New Delhi:

The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) work to send an astronaut to space in a joint project with the US’ NASA is going on as scheduled, the Indian agency’s chief Dr S Somanath told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

Of the four astronauts that India had chosen, two will be sent to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for training, and one of them will be selected for the space mission, Dr Somanath said.

“Similarly, the other two will also get training of a different kind… So all four of them will go through certain levels of training through this programme. Many engineers will also be trained by NASA to handle other aspects of space flight,” Dr Somanath said.

He said the ISRO’s eventual goal is human space flight, and the learnings from the whole programme with NASA will feed into the Indian space agency’s experience in finally sending humans to space.

“When we get the capability, if a head of state wants to fly to space, for example, it must be on our vehicle, from our land. I will wait for our Gaganyaan to be ready, to be proven, to be qualified to do that,” the ISRO chief told NDTV when asked whether key leaders would be eligible to fly to space in the far future.

ISRO’s choice of sending an Indian astronaut to space is limited to only the Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon programmes. Explaining why this is so, Dr Somanath said the whole programme is based on the idea of working together such as the International Space Station (ISS).

“NASA offered us a seat from its available opportunities. It is contractually bound for NASA to go through the available vehicles. So it is natural for them to offer to us. But being a commercial contract, we have to go through the agreements with other partners. We are agreeing to that. There are not many choices. The one we got is a choice that the US and NASA gave us,” Dr Somanath said.

He said there is no definite timeline for the launch as NASA may use the available vehicles for their national commitments. The launch in which the Indian astronaut would fly was scheduled later this year, but it will be stretched as “many things are happening,” Dr Somanath told NDTV, adding whenever it happens, the mission would be called “Axiom 4”.

India and the US on June 17 had concluded the Strategic Framework for Human Spaceflight Cooperation to deepen interoperability in space.

A fact-sheet issued by the US and India after the iCET Dialogue between US National Security Adviser (NSA) Jake Sullivan and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had said the two sides are also exploring opportunities to participate in the Lunar Gateway Programme.

The Lunar Gateway Programme aims to build a space station around the Moon as part of the collaborative Artemis programme spearheaded by the US.