ISRO-NASA mission to send Indian astronaut to ISS faces budget cut

New Delhi: The ISRO-NASA mission to send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station has seen a “substantial budget cut” this year with the Department of Space claiming the reduction is due to deferment of the mission to the next fiscal, according to a Parliamentary panel report tabled on Tuesday.

Surprisingly even the budgetary allocation for the mission in 2025-26 is substantially low – just about one-sixth of what was originally allocated in 2024-25.

Also the ambitious Gaganyaan programme experienced a “significant budget reduction” of more than Rs 350 crore in the current fiscal, reflecting delays in “hardware realisation and milestone based payments,” the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology says in its report. 

During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2023 trip to the USA, New Delhi and Washington announced a joint mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation and National Aeronautics and Space Administration to the International Space Station in 2024 to send an Indian astronaut to the ISS.

The two Gaganyatris (Prime-Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and Backup-Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair) assigned for Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) commenced their training in the USA from the first week of August, 2024 and completed it by November.

While analysing the Department of Space’s annual budget, the House panel found over Rs 300 crore reduction in the allocation for the programme that will send only the second Indian to space after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma. 

A sum of Rs 715 crore was earmarked for the programme in FY25, but the allocation was cut to Rs 412 crore at the revised estimate stage. When queried, the ISRO officials told the lawmakers that the cut was because of the programme getting rescheduled next year.

But in the 2025-26 budget the allocation has been drastically reduced to Rs 135 crore, reflecting the deferral of the mission to a later date.

The Committee expressed concerns over further delays in India's collaboration with NASA and asked the Department of Space to maintain strong international engagement to ensure mission stability.

The officials conveyed to the MPs that the reduction was necessary due to “scheduling constraints”. They said the bilateral collaboration with NASA and Axiom Space remained intact, and necessary funds would be allocated at a later stage. 

The Indian human spaceflight programme (Gaganyaan) too witnessed a big drop in the allocation. It received Rs 1,200 crore in the 2024-25 budget, but the amount was cut to Rs 847 crore later. Once again Rs 1,200 crore was allocated in the 2025-26 budget.

“The actual expenditure till December 2024 stood at Rs 627.05 crore, reflecting delays in hardware realisation and milestone-based payments. The Committee expressed concern over the repeated fund reductions and emphasised that predictable financial allocations were crucial for maintaining mission timelines,” the panel says in the report. 

Last year, the Department of Space was sanctioned Rs 13,042.75 crore in the budget, but the allocation was revised downwards to Rs 11,725.75 crore at the revised estimate stage. 

“For the year 2025-26, the Department projected a requirement of Rs 15,983.37 crore, but was allocated Rs 13,416.20 crore, reflecting a shortfall of Rs 2,567.17 crore that could impact some planned initiatives,” the Parliamentary Committee notes.