R Umamaheshwaran, Director of Human Space Flight Center, on Thursday at the India Space Congress 2022 said that they are aiming for the first manned space flight from India to be by the end of 2024 or by early 2025. He also added that the first unmanned flight from India will be by the end of 2023.
When talking about the first manned mission he added that it is proposed to travel a distance of 400 km from Earth and last for two to three days. According to the reports by Moneycontrol, Umamaheshwaran said four candidates have already been selected and are currently undergoing through training at Astronaut Training Facility in Bengaluru.
Speaking on the second day of the conference he added that they are planning to launch India specific space station by 2035. This project is currently under the discussion stage.
India Space Congress 2022 is a three-day event that started on October 26 at the Le Meridien, New Delhi. The event was kickstarted by a keynote from Dr S. Somanath, Chairman of ISRO and Secretary, Department of Space. In his speech, he talked about the need to mentor Indian youngsters to create a vibrant space sector.
The idea of the conference is to bring all the high-level stakeholders together from space agencies, institutions, and industry around the world under one roof to exchange insights, trends and strategies for collaborative development of the space ecosystem in the country.
The conference includes workshops, key panel discussions and exhibitions to connect private and public sectors and to get exposure to vibrant and energetic new space programs.
