ISRO Chief Says Entire Nation Will Be Proud If Given Chance To Take PM Modi To Space (image-twitter/newsIADN)

Dr Somanath, the Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization in an exclusive with NDTV said that it will be a “very proud” moment for the entire nation if Prime Minister Narendra Modi opts to fly into space.

ISRO has been gearing up for the launch of its human mission Gaganyaan which is likely to be launched in a couple of years. Dr Somanath noted that ISRO was at a “critical juncture” with Gaganyaan this year and had three important missions scheduled.

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The human space flight mission will launch a crew of up to three members into a Low Earth Orbit. For the mission, four test piolets, Prashant Nair, Angad Prathap, Ajith Krishnan and Shubhanshu Shukla were chosen from the Indian Air Force.

“Any other candidate, including VIPs, for such missions cannot be considered at this moment because it is a highly skilled and trained operation which requires many years and months of preparation, and I believe that will be the guiding spirit in this case,” he stated.

When asked whether he would be happy to accommodate Prime Minister Modi if he decided to go, Dr Somanath said that he would be happy to do that. “He has much more responsible jobs to do I believe. But this is one of the capabilities that we would like to develop, that’s human spaceflight capability, which we are in the process of gaining,” he added.

When the interviewer asked him whether he would prefer the prime minister to fly when the Gaganyaan is ready to take him on an Indian vehicle to space, ISRO chief replied that if the head of the state plans to fly to the International Space Station, it must be on our vehicle. “So, I would wait for the Gaganyaan to be ready, to be proven, to be qualified enough to do that,” he added.

The Gaganyaan is scheduled for its first test flight at the end of the next year.

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Commenting on the interviewer’s question about taking Prime Minister Modi, he further added, “All of us will be very proud. Not only me, the entire nation will be proud if we have that ability to confidently send such a state man to space.”