Russia, France to assist India in its manned space mission Gaganyaan

Russia and France will help India in its manned space mission Gaganyaan that will be sent in the year 2022. 

While the Russian space agency Roscosmos will train four Indian astronauts of which three will be selected to go onboard India's human spaceflight programme, France will train their medical support personnel. Training of medical support personnel will be carried out in France and India.

Glavkosmos, which is a subsidiary of Roscosmos and manages of the international space project has signed a contract with India's Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO for the training of Indian astronauts at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

The development comes in the backdrop of India's Nation Security Advisor Ajit Doval's Moscow visit during which he met Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin.

A release from Roscosmos said, "The sides discussed possible Indian crewed flight carrier rocket aerodynamic tests, as well as piloted vehicle and crew rescue system. It is planned to reach an agreement until the end of August 2019." 

Adding, "Russia and India are expecting to negotiate the contracts to supply windows, crew seats and spacesuits for the Indian crewed mission."

France and India meanwhile announced to further their space cooperation during PM Modi's state visit to the country that is underway.

"France and India desire to deepen their space cooperation so as to meet new challenges together, whether it concerns planetary exploration or human spaceflight", India France joint statement released on Thursday said.

The Rs 10,000 crore Gaganyaan project was announced by PM Modi during his Independence day speech on August 15, 2018 and involves three members Indian crew being sent to space for seven days. After this manned mission, India will become the fourth country after Russia, US and China to send humans in space.