In a first-of-its-kind initiative involving precision-flying, Indian Space Research Organisation on Thursday successfully launched the Proba-3 mission onboard a PSLV-C59 rocket, a solar experiment undertaken by the European Space Agency.
ISRO Chairman V Narayanan has emphasised the critical role of mission operations in ensuring the success of India's expanding space programme. He highlighted this at the Spacecraft Mission Operations conference, noting the importance of sustained teamwork and operational precision, particularly for long-duration missions like Chandrayaan-3 and the upcoming Gaganyaan programme.
Group Captain Shukla was commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force in June 2006.
Besides the scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation, officials at the European Space Agency are also involved in tracking the lander module of the Chandrayaan-3 mission which is minutes away from making a soft landing on the surface of the moon, a senior scientist said on Wednesday.
For the first time, there will be an Indian connection to a crewed Moon mission.
Russia and the US are the major partners in the ISS programme, which also includes Canada, Japan and several European nations like France, Italy and Spain.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has put off Sunday's launch of the Axiom-4 mission carrying Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others to the International Space Station and a new date will be announced in the coming days.
Over the years, India-EU ties have grown, and covered trade, investment, climate change, science and technology, space, digital, mobility, and connectivity.
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian to visit the International Space Station, has been awarded the Ashoka Chakra, India's highest peacetime gallantry award. The award recognizes his contributions to the Axiom-4 mission and India's advancements in human space exploration.
Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and three others are expected to travel to the International Space Station on June 19, after SpaceX successfully resolved the liquid oxygen leak in its Falcon-9 rocket, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced on Saturday.
'The launch of Axiom 04 slated for 11th June 2025 for sending first Indian Gaganyatri to ISS is postponed.'
Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station, piloted by Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla with three other crew members, has been delayed and will now be launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on June 8 at 6:41 pm IST.
For India, much is at stake: Crucial energy supplies traversing the Strait of Hormuz, the fate of its 10 million citizens living and working in West Asia -- who send generous remittances home -- and its major trade links with the region.
Both sides have now revealed a preference for escalation over strategic defeat, and each new provocation narrows the space for the next pause. The Touska seizure, Iran's refusal to negotiate under blockade, Israel's strikes on Iranian oil infrastructure -- all of these add up to an increasingly untenable situation. This makes the wild card -- Trump and his motormouth -- more consequential than ever, notes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the Iran War.
On Thursday, NASA announced that it was working with Roscosmos to understand a new pressure signature, after the recent post-repair effort in the aft-most segment of the International Space Station's Zvezda service module.
SpaceX's Falcon-9 rocket was scheduled to blast off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Tuesday evening.
The Human-rated LVM3 vehicle, the Crew Escape System and the Crew Module and Service Module are all in final stages of testing and integration.
'The solution is to replace, clean up, retest and proceed.' 'There is nothing to worry about if corrected.'
The LPG squeeze on India's restaurant sector is the quotidian face of a deeper crisis.
The 'rescue' operation occurred within kilometres of Iran's underground tunnel complex at Isfahan, assessed by the IAEA and US intelligence as holding a substantial portion of the country's 60 per cent enriched uranium stockpile. Retired senior US military officers have highlighted that the mission's footprint -- hundreds of special operators, multiple heavy-lift aircraft deep inside Iran -- appears outsized for recovering a single airman. Prem Panicker continues his must read blog on the Iran War.
NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX are now targeting 12.01 PM (IST), Wednesday, June 25, for launch of the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, Axiom Mission 4, NASA said.
As part of a plan to refinance debt and expand its upcoming constellation of satellites, French satellite major Eutelsat Communications will raise euro 1.35 billion, or $1.55 billion, through a reserved capital increase and a rights issue, the company announced on Friday. Bharti Enterprises' space venture, Bharti Space Ltd, will invest euro 31.4 million, or $36 million, in the capital raise.
Israel and the United States had a plan. Iran punched back. And now the Gulf is reeling, the world is beginning to feel the pain and, as on date, no one in Washington or Tel Aviv appears willing to admit that the punch has landed, notes Prem Panicker, continuing his must-read blog on the war in the Middle East.
India's Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and three other astronauts on Thursday reached the International Space Station as the Dragon spacecraft docked with the orbital laboratory.
Meanwhile, Musk said some parts of the ISS were "simply getting too old and obviously that risk grows over time."
Astronaut Samantha Cristofiretti of the European Space Agency (ESA) wished India ahead of Independence Day 2022
Unveiling his launch day playlist, the Indian pilot revealed that he loves to listen to Shah Rukh Khan's Swades song Yuh Hi Chala Chal.
The mission was originally scheduled for lift-off on May 29 but was put off multiple times when engineers detected a liquid oxygen leak in the boosters of the Falcon-9 rocket and NASA also detected leaks in the ageing Russian module of the ISS.
Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will be the first Indian to travel to the International Space Station (ISS), flying aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft as part of a joint effort between NASA and ISRO. Shukla, a group captain in the Indian Air Force, will serve as the pilot for the Axiom Mission 4, scheduled for launch no earlier than spring 2025. The mission will also carry the first astronauts from Poland and Hungary to stay aboard the ISS.
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla Shukla says Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma -- the first Indian to travel to space --has been advising him about the space flight.
Following the postponement of the Axiom 4 mission, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla's father, Shambhu Dayal Shukla, said that his family is 'mentally' prepared for the mission.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday proposed a G20 initiative aimed at enhancing clean energy transitions by boosting recycling, easing supply chain pressures and advancing joint research on critical minerals, and suggested forging a partnership to make satellite data more accessible and interoperable.
'ISRO recommended to carry out in-situ repairs or replacement and conduct a low-temperature leak test to validate system performance and integrity, before proceeding with launch.'
"Once the astronaut returns to Earth, they are immediately forced to readjust again, back to Earth's gravity, and can experience issues standing, stabilising their gaze, walking and turning. For their safety, returning astronauts are often placed in a chair immediately upon return to Earth," the Houston-based Baylor College of Medicine said in a note on body changes in space.
In terms of success rate, the PSLV rocket has an enviable record of 57 successful missions out of 58 commercial ones.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has rescheduled the launch of PSLV-C59 to Thursday due to an "anomaly" detected in the PROBA-3 spacecraft. The launch was originally scheduled for Wednesday at 4.08 pm from the spaceport in Sriharikota. The anomaly was identified by scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA), who requested the rescheduling of the launch. The PROBA-3 mission, a joint project between ESA and ISRO, aims to study the Sun's corona using two spacecraft that will fly in formation. The launch will provide valuable insights for ISRO's future solar missions, including the Aditya-L1 mission which was launched in September 2023.
If Rakesh Sharma represented the dreams of a nascent India looking outward, Shubhanshu Shukla embodies a confident India reaching for the controls.
The US will not support the orbital outpost beyond 2015. Key ISS partners Russia and the European Space Agency have announced that they will not be able to fund the project on their own and may abandon it if the US backs out.
The US Food and Drug Administration's (USFDA)'s new draft guidelines aimed at speeding up and reducing the cost of developing biosimilars - lower-priced, near-replicas of complex biologic medicines - could significantly benefit Indian biotech companies.
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