India partners with France to launch India’s first human spaceflight mission Gaganyaan
India’s deeper engagement with France in the geopolitical arena has been constantly growing day by day. In the latest, the agreement was reached during the French Foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian visit to Indian Space agency. ISRO is planning to launch its first Human space mission and ISRO has asked CNES to help prepare for Gaganyaan missions and to serve as its single European contact in this domain. The Indian and French space agencies signed a partnership agreement on Thursday for India’s first human space flight, Gaganyaan, according to the French space agency CNES.
“Under the terms of the agreement, CNES will train India’s flight physicians and CAPCOM mission control teams in France at the CADMOS centre for the advancement of microgravity applications and space operations at CNES in Toulouse and the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany,” according to the CNES.
The agreement provides for the CNES to support implementation of a scientific experiment plan on validation missions, exchange information on food packaging and the nutrition programme, and above all the use by Indian astronauts of French equipment, consumables and medical instruments.
French equipment developed by CNES, tested and still operating aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will thus be made available to Indian crews. The Gaganyaan orbital spacecraft project was kicked off in August 2018. It originally intended to send astronauts from Indian soil to mark the 75th anniversary of India’s independence in 2022.
However, the mission has been delayed due to the restrictions imposed in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
