‘We promised PM Modi’: US envoy says they will send Indian astronaut to ISS by year-end

An Indian astronaut will be sent to the International Space Station (ISS) by the end of this year, said US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti. Meanwhile, two sites in India have been earmarked for the US to make nuclear reactors. 

“We are going to put an Indian astronaut into the International Space Station this year. We promised when PM (Narendra) Modi came (to the US in 2023) that by the end of this year, we will do this and our mission is still on track to be able to go in space this year,” he said. 

Speaking on the sidelines of an event to mark the 248th Independence Day of the US, Garcetti added that the NISAR project between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is a joint Earth-observing mission, is also likely to be launched by the end of the year.

Garcetti highlighted the importance of India and US coordinating in terms of research and critical emerging technology in order to leverage each other’s strengths. He pointed out that Chandrayaan 3 was launched by India at a fraction of a cost that the US incurred on a similar lunar mission, but also underscored the capacities that the US currently has and India does not. 

“When the two are combined, both countries have those capacities,” he said.

He also spoke about the civilian nuclear energy arena and said once the elections are over both the US and Indian government can move forward ‘arm in arm and hand in hand’. Mithi Virdhi in Gujarat and Kovadda in Andhra Pradesh are the two sites that have been marked for US companies to build nuclear reactors. 

However, the companies have raised concerns over the Civil Liability Nuclear Damage Act 2010, which provides for prompt compensation to the victims for damage caused by a nuclear incident through a no-fault liability regime.