Indian astronaut to fly to International Space Station by April next year as part of ISRO-NASA mission

India is gearing up for a major milestone in space exploration. By April next year, an Indian astronaut is expected to fly to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of a collaborative mission between NASA and ISRO, India's space agency. Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh shared this exciting news during a press conference.

Two Indian Air Force officers, Group Captains Shubhanshu Shukla and Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, are currently in the US undergoing training for this mission, known as Axiom Space's Ax-4 mission. Shukla has been selected for the mission, with Nair serving as the backup candidate.

Celebrating National Space Day

This announcement comes just before India’s first-ever National Space Day on August 23, celebrating the successful landing of the Vikram lander on the Moon last year. The theme for this day is "Touching Lives while Touching the Moon: India's Space Saga." During the event, ISRO will release scientific data from its Chandrayaan-3 mission, which will be useful for researchers. President Droupadi Murmu will lead the celebrations and present awards to winners of space-related competitions. The event will happen in Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. 

One August 23, Vikram Lander touched down on the moon's surface, specifically the moon's south pole—the Pragyan Rover then collected data from the unexplored lunar surface. It was the first spacecraft to land in the Moon’s south polar region, where water ice might exist beneath the surface. This landing site was the southernmost point ever reached by a lunar probe. With this achievement, India became the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the Moon, following the United States, Russia, and China.

Updates on ISRO’s upcoming missions

ISRO also provided updates on several other missions. The joint ISRO-NASA mission called NISAR, an earth observation satellite, is now scheduled for launch after February 2024. The satellite’s 12-metre reflector needed repairs in the US, but it’s expected to return to India by October.

Looking ahead, ISRO is planning to launch the Chandrayaan-4 mission in 2027, which aims to bring back lunar rock and soil samples to Earth. Additionally, ISRO and Japan's space agency JAXA are collaborating on Chandrayaan-5, which will explore the Moon’s polar region with a rover and instruments from NASA and the European Space Agency.