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In June 2023, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Washington, India and the US announced a decision to finalise a strategic framework for human spaceflight cooperation. It was also revealed that Indian and American space agencies, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), would mount a joint effort to enable an Indian astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) by 2024.
The 2023 announcement offered India an opportunity to get real-life experience for one of its astronauts ahead of the Gaganyaan mission.
Only three nations — the US, Russia and China — have a human spaceflight programme of their own. Shubhanshu Shukla’s flight, which came about on the back of the 2023 announcement, is thus being seen as another preparatory step ahead of the Gaganyaan mission.
A growing partnership
It has since emerged that the 2023 announcement was the result of at least a few years of discussions between India and the US. Their space agencies have been working on a joint NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) mission for over a decade now, enabling a closer-than-ever partnership. That mission is finally ready now, and likely to be launched in the next few weeks from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
The need to further strengthen their partnership, possibly through a joint human spaceflight programme, had been broached several times during these interactions. This took place particularly after ISRO demonstrated its advanced capabilities with missions, such as Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan, and the development of sophisticated space systems.
This closer collaboration was formalised a couple of months after Modi’s Washington visit in June 2023, when India signed the Artemis Accords, a US-devised set of principles for responsible behaviour and cooperation in space exploration, particularly in lunar and deep planetary missions.
It paved the way for unprecedented collaboration between the two countries in space-related matters, the first benefits of which have begun to unfold with the Axiom-4 mission.
Axiom Space’s invitation
Shortly after the Artemis Accords were signed, Axiom Space, a private US-based space company, invited India to participate in its mission to the ISS. Axiom Space has been the first and till now the only beneficiary of a NASA programme to enable private US industry to send commercial crewed missions to low-earth orbits and the ISS. This is part of NASA’s endeavour to build capabilities in the private sector while it focuses on science and planetary exploration.
Axiom Space has sent three multinational missions to the ISS so far, each carrying four astronauts. The inaugural mission, in 2022, marked the first instance of an all-private crew making its way to the ISS. None of the astronauts were affiliated to, or selected by, any national space agency, though one of them had been a former NASA astronaut. The other three were businessmen.
The second mission in 2023 also had three private individuals, and was commanded by Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and the world record holder for having spent the maximum number of days in space. The third mission last year had an all-European crew, with the first Turkish national to ever go into space.
For its fourth mission on Wednesday, on which Shukla will travel to the ISS, Axiom Space invited three countries who had last been to space more than 40 years ago — India (1984), Hungary (1978) and Poland (1980) — with Whitson named commander once again. Aptly, the mission has been themed ‘Realize the Return’.
