Parliamentary panel voices concern over budget cuts for NASA-ISRO mission to International Space Station

New Delhi: A parliamentary panel has voiced concern over the substantial budgetary cut for the joint NASA-ISRO mission under which an Indian astronaut is scheduled to travel to the International Space Station.

The Department of Space told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, chaired by BJP member Bhubaneshwar Kalita, that the reduction in funds at the Revised Estimate (RE) stage for 2024-25 was due to the deferral of the mission to the next financial year.

While the reduction was necessary due to scheduling constraints, the bilateral collaboration with NASA and Axiom Space remains intact, and necessary funds will be allocated at a later stage, it told the committee.

The joint mission was announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2023 visit to the US when then-American president Joe Biden declared that an Indian astronaut would travel to the International Space Station (ISS).

Two astronaut-designates -- Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair -- have been assigned for Axiom Mission 4. Shukla has been designated as pilot of the mission while Nair is back-up crew.

The committee noted that the joint ISRO-NASA mission faced a substantial budget cut at the RE stage, reducing its allocation from Rs 715 crore to Rs 412 crore.

"However, the Budget Estimate (BE) for 2025-26 has been drastically reduced to Rs 135 crore, reflecting the deferral of the mission to a later date," the committee said in its report.

It added that the BE for 2024-25 was Rs 13,042.75 crore but this was substantially revised downwards by 10.09 per cent to Rs 11,725.75 crore at the RE stage.

As of December 2024, actual expenditure stood at Rs 8,296.38 crore -- a mere 71 per cent utilisation of the RE allocation.

For 2025-26, the Department of Space 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 can impact some planned initiatives.

"While the increase in allocation over the previous year suggests continued government support for space activities, the reduction from the projected requirement raises concerns about the department's ability to execute all planned projects efficiently," the committee said.

It also voiced concern over the repeated reduction to Gaganyaan -- India's human spaceflight programme.

The committee pointed out that the Gaganyaan programme experienced a significant budget reduction at the RE 2024-25 stage -- from Rs 1,200 crore to Rs 847.35 crore.

The Department of Space told the committee that the adjustments were based on realistic expenditure patterns and that major mission milestones remained on track, with additional requirements to be addressed at the RE 2025-26 stage, if necessary.