For the first time, there will be an Indian connection to a crewed Moon mission.
On Friday, SpaceX and NASA launched a mission to bring back US astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore from the ISS, where they have been stranded for nine months.
Indian Space Research Organisation is gearing up for one of its busiest times with seven more launches planned this financial year, even as India's first human spaceflight remains scheduled for 2027, its chairman V Narayanan said.
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have been stranded on the ISS for nine months after reaching there in June last year. They were supposed to stay there for about a week.
Indian-origin Astronaut Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are scheduled to leave the International Space station by March 19 at the earliest, said NASA.
The spacecraft, Elon Musk-led SpaceX's Dragon, will splash down off the coast of the American state of Florida around 3:27 am IST Wednesday.
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, stranded at the International Space Station for over nine months, will return to Earth on Tuesday evening, NASA announced in a statement.
Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore have been stranded on the International Space Station since June 2024.
The agency said it is currently receiving a signal from the lander, which is communicating as expected.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon capsule was launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying four crew members to the International Space Station.
Record-setting Indian-American National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut Sunita Williams along with two other cosmonauts will return to earth on Sunday, after four months in orbit.
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 record-setting astronaut Sunita Williams along with her two colleagues on Sunday took off for her second space odyssey on a Russian Soyuz rocket, which blasted off successfully from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
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.
46-year-old NASA astronaut Williams, Russian Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency flight engineer Akihiko Hoshide arrived at the ISS after two days in orbit.
The mission has been delayed for several years because of setbacks in the spacecraft's development.
Friday's successful launch comes as shot in the arm for the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.
The ISRO is looking at Mangalyaan-2, a follow-on mission to Mars, and launching two satellites that would look at Venus and explore asteroids.
United States space agency NASA said it would launch a water-related satellite in collaboration with India's ISRO.
China is all set to send on Thursday the first three crew members to its under-construction space station which is expected to be Beijing's eye in the sky and will rival the ageing International Space Station (ISS).
'It is our duty to keep space sustainable and free of debris.'
Once ISRO masters the technology to send humans into space, the next step will be experimenting with technologies allowing humans to live in space.
Having reached the Red Planet, ISRO can now focus on getting humans in space and secure the resources to do it
The Chinese Mars probe named Tianwen 1, or Quest for Heavenly Truth 1, will fulfil three scientific objectives: orbiting the red planet for comprehensive observation, landing on Martian soil and sending a rover to roam the landing site.
Lack of access to the cosmonaut training programmes would also be a hindrance for ISRO's planned manned missions, explains Devangshu Datta.
At $2.6 trillion, the Indian economy is currently ranked sixth in the world behind the US, China, Japan, Germany and the UK.
'Modi and Abe are working seriously for India-Japan bonhomie to grow stronger.' 'It is a win-win situation for both countries and the future look promising,' says Rajaram Panda, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations India Chair Visiting Professor at Reitaku University, Japan.
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