India to send two astronauts by its own rocket by 2017

New Delhi, Apr 13 (PTI) India will send two astronauts to
space by 2017 in its own spacecraft and the Rs 12,400 project
is likely to be approved before the Independence Day, ISRO
chairman Dr K Radhakrishnan has said.
With this achievement, India would join the select club
of America, Russia and China which have such human space
flight capabilities.
The Indian Space Research Organisation has submitted the
Rs 12,400 crore project for indigenous astronaut launch
programme which involves launching of Indian astronauts, using
an Indian rocket from Indian soil.
The proposal is pending for the last two years but
Radhakrishnan hopes the approval may come before the
Independence Day. "We expect that the government will give us
approval in a couple of months," the ISRO chief told NDTV.
"As of now what we have is a pre-project study. The
astronaut programme will be implemented in phases," he said.
Asked if an announcement would be made in the Prime
Minister's Independence Day speech, the ISRO Chief said "the
approval and announcement could happen even before that".
The first phase is to test the unmanned crew module -- a
service module in space four years from now. After that the
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) will be used to
launch the Indian astronauts, he said.
The Rs 12,400 crore will be needed over seven years for
setting up of several ground facilities like launch pads, the
mission control centre, astronaut training centre and all
permanent assets on the ground.
"What goes into the orbit will be (costing) about Rs
three to four thousand crores," he said.
He outlined the benefits to be rendered by such project.
"When this programme is proved in the human space flight
with the long term vision that we have, 30-40 years from now,
probably you could have a new source of energy. You will have
several technologies which will be giving benefit to the other
sectors in the economy," Radhakrishnan said. PTI