India and Russia will create a joint working group on cooperation in manned cosmonautics, the press service of the Indian government reported on Friday, Trend reports referring to TASS.
The Indian cabinet of ministers studied the information about the memorandum on cooperation in manned cosmonautics that was earlier signed between India and Russia and approved it. According to the report, the document will consolidate relations between the countries and prompt the development of technologies and advanced systems needed for a manned flight, the press service noted.
In his speech devoted to Independence Day, August 15, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that the country will have independently sent an Indian crew to space by 2022, when India will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of independence. Representatives for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) reported then that a crew of three people is expected to be sent into the low-earth orbit at an altitude of 300-400 km where it will work five to seven days. The crew may include a woman. The spacecraft and the program were named Gaganyaan ("Skycraft").
ISRO reported that it may need the help of a foreign state in the advanced training of the first national crew.