Expanding bilateral space sector cooperation, including India’s human space flights, will be a key point of discussions during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington.

What Happened? Prime Minister Modi and U.S. President Joe Biden are set to explore potential collaboration in areas such as astronaut training, crew rescue operations, and other activities related to human space flight, the Economic Times reported, citing sources.

The discussions between India and the US will reportedly take place under the framework of the US-India initiative on critical and emerging technologies (iCET), launched earlier this year.

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Strengthening cooperation in human space flight, exploring innovative approaches for joint collaboration in the commercial space sector through a joint working group, and promoting talent exchange programs. such as the professional engineer and scientist exchange program, are among the objectives outlined in the iCET initiative.

The collaboration between the two countries in the space sector will also likely have a positive impact on India’s Gaganyaan human space flight mission, the sources told the business daily. A human space flight working group has recently been established under the iCET framework to facilitate cooperation and coordination between India and the US in this area.

India and the US have been actively engaging in various aspects of space cooperation, including a low-earth orbit observatory aimed at monitoring and studying changes in the Earth’s ecosystems, ice mass, ocean levels, and natural hazards, and plans for the training of an Indian astronaut at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

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