William Atkins
Wednesday, 25 February 2009 20:43
Science -
Space
Page 2 of 4
There is still much work needed by the ISRO, and other related Indian agencies, before a manned mission can be sent into space.
S. Satish, a spokesperson for the Indian government stated,
“… we have to establish a facility for training the astronaut, then we have to build a human space capsule - so these are some of the major technological challenges." [BBC News: “
India 'to join elite space club'”]
The inaugural manned mission into space is tentatively planned to have a geosynchronous-satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) with an Indian-made cryogenic engine take the two astronauts into a 275-kilometer (172-mile) near-circular orbit around the Earth for up to seven days.
They will return to Earth via a capsule that will land in the ocean.
Only the Soviet Union (Russia), the United States, and China has so far sent their own citizens into space with their own domestically built rockets and capsules.
Upon success of this first manned mission, the Indian government is gearing itself for a manned mission to the Moon in 2020.
Recently, in October 2008, India had a successful initial launch of its
Chandrayaan I spacecraft.
Learn more about the
Chandrayaan I spacecraft on page three.
