Samantha Cristoforetti sent a video message from space wishing ISRO success on the Gaganyaan mission.
New Delhi:
As India celebrates 75 years of independence, Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti sent a video message from space wishing the country’s space agency, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) success on the “Gaganyaan” program – India’s first human Space mission which is going to happen in 2023.
“On behalf of ISA, NASA and all international partners, I would like to wish ISRO all the best as it works on the Getagonian program and gets ready to send humans into space. Expanding our partnership with ISRO and the universe Exploration is a goal for all of us for future space exploration,” Ms. Cristoforetti said in a video shared by the Indian Ambassador to the United States.
Mr Sandhu shared a message on the birth anniversary of Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space programme.
sky is not the limit!
best wishes from #space ISS @space Station as #India celebrates #75 Years of Freedom
Appreciate @astrosamantha Warm message. a true ship @NASA@isro@esa
happy to share on the birth anniversary of #Vikram Sarabhai space program . father of pic.twitter.com/tT2OsoCjb4
— Taranjit Singh Sandhu (@SandhuTaranjitS) 12 August 2022
In the 1 minute 13 second long video, Ms Cristoforetti also spoke about the joint Earth-observation mission between NASA and ISRO, and said that the International Space Agency is expanding its partnership with ISRO for future space exploration .
“Expanding our partnership with ISRO and exploring the universe is the goal of future space exploration for all of us,” he said.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh had said last month that preparations for ‘Gaganyaan’ have been completed and humans of Indian origin will go to space next year.
The minister also announced that the trials of the mission, scheduled to be held in 2023, would be carried out by the end of this year.
“Next year one or two people of Indian origin will go to space. The preparations for our ‘Gaganyaan’ have been done. Before this, two trials will be done by the end of this year. The first trial will be empty and the second female robot (astronaut) will be sent in it. Whose name is Vyomitra,” Mr. Singh said during a press conference.
“Based on these two missions, our astronauts will go on to the third mission,” he said.
With the ‘Gaganyaan’ mission, India aims to become the fourth nation in the world after the United States, Russia and China to launch a manned space flight mission.