Russia reiterates commitment to share expertise on ISRO

Russia on Friday reiterated its commitment to sharing expertise on training Indian astronauts for ISRO's maiden manned mission to the Moon.

"There is excellent cooperation between the Russian Space Corporation 'Roscosmos' and the Indian Space Research Organisation of the human space flight program," Consulate General of Russian Federation, Consul-General, O Avdeev said. Russia had offered its commitment to share its expertise in training future Indian astronauts for faster adaptation to overstress and weightlessness, which is a prerequisite, at the bilateral summit in September at Vladivostok between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi

ISRO has set a target to undertake the first unmanned program under the Gaganyaan project by December 2022. Avdeev, in a press release, referred to the signing of an MoU at the meet to develop a maritime communication link between Vladivostok and Chennai, which would aid in Russian hydrocarbon exports to India.

He also referred to the Indo-Russian Joint Venture Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project in Tirunelveli, about 600 km from here and said the first two units were already operational, while another two were 'under construction'. Another two units would be set up under a long term target in the next 20 years, he said. In the education sector, he said there was a 30 per cent increase in students with over 1,200 of them opting to study in Russia for higher studies in 2019.