India’s plans to put a second native son into space, the first from an indigenously made Indian space rocket in the next five years, have fizzled out.
Dr K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) admitted as much here on Monday, when he said that “at this point in time, it would be difficult to set a time-frame for an Indian’s flight into space.”
The giveaway? The much-vaunted human space flight programme does not figure in the 58 space missions approved by the planning commission for the period 2012-2017.
“We do not have a programme declared as such, only pre-project studies are on, for which the government has sanctioned Rs150 crore,” Dr Radhakrishnan said.
When ISRO mooted an Indian’s journey into space in 2006-07 at a cost of Rs12, 400 crore, space scientists envisaged at least two people travelling into space aboard an Indian rocket within the next seven years.
Two consecutive failures of GSLV (Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) however have forced government to put the ambitious project on hold.
Dr Radhakrishnan said though originally GSLV-Mark II was proposed to be used for the manned mission with a two-member crew returning home after a week-long voyage in space, Indian space scientists were now looking at GSLV-Mark III as it would have the capability to fly a three-member crew.