Indian-American Sunita Williams, a record-setting astronaut who lived and worked aboard the International Space Station for six months in 2006, is all set for her second space odyssey.
Indian-American Sunita Williams, a record-setting astronaut who lived and worked aboard the International Space Station for six months in 2006, is headed to the space once again in July.
Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams has been selected to be on the crew for one of the four new International Space Station teams.NASA and its international partners, the Russia Federal Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, have assigned these crews.Other NASA astronauts include Joe Acaba, Sunita Williams and Kevin Ford.Williams will fill in as flight engineer for Expedition 32 in May 2012, and station commander for Expedition 33.
India and Russia held discussions on the possibility of cooperation in space exploration, including missions to the moon and Mars. Russia's head of Federal Space Agency met the Indian Space Research Organisation chairman.
India is planning to send one of its citizens into space, on board a Russian spacecraft, to acquire the skills necessary for future manned space missions. ''India would like to have one of its astronauts trained in Russia and send him into space on board the Soyuz spacecraft,'' an anonymous senior source in the Indian Space Research Organisation said. He said that the ISRO had been holding talks on the issue with the Russian Federal Space Agency, with a positive response.
India has sought the help of Russia to join the orbital International Space Station project in the face of "objection by some other project partners," a top Russian space agency official has said.
There appears to be uncertainty over availability of a lander from Russia even as the 'desi' rocket to launch the space odyssey would take time to become operational.
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