On the eve of the Russian President’s visit to India, the head of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, told Izvestia yesterday that fields for collaboration include engine building, rocket fuel, piloted spaceflight, and the development of national orbital stations. Putin himself, Izvestia reports, has hinted at taking cooperation with India to a new level by enhancing technological ties.
Defense and space cooperation is likely to be high on the agenda during the visit. New Delhi and Moscow have partnered in the defense sector since the early 1960s.
In 1984, Izvestia notes, Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to travel to space aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft. And Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to visit the International Space Station (ISS), underwent an extensive training program with three others at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow in 2020. Russia is also working with India on the latter’s upcoming human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan.
In January, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully completed the in-orbit docking of its SpaDeX satellites, making India the fourth country to achieve the milestone after Russia, the U.S., and China. The accomplishment is considered crucial for India’s future space endeavors, such as building its own space station and sending an astronaut to the Moon, Izvestia writes.
