America will send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station by December 2024, US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti has confirmed.
The NISAR project, a joint Earth-observing mission between Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and NASA, will also be launched by the year-end, Garcetti said on Wednesday.
“We are going to put an Indian astronaut into the International Space Station this year,” he said. “We promised when PM (Narendra) Modi came (to the US in 2023) that by the end of this year, we will do this and our mission is still on track to be able to go in space this year,” he said.
The US ambassador said this at an event marking the 248th Independence Day of the nation.
“Both India and the US should coordinate research and critical emerging technology so that they can leverage each other’s strengths,” he pointed.
The diplomat went on to say that India was able to land ‘Chandrayaan 3’ on the Moon in 2023 at a fraction of the cost that the US incurred on a similar mission.
Both India and the US are among the top countries carrying out research on the outer space. Others also in the race are Russia and China.
Meanwhile, two place in India – Mithi Virdhi in Gujarat and Kovadda in Andhra Pradesh – have been selected for US companies to build nuclear reactors.
