India's Space Program
About the Indian Space Program
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was founded in 1969 in order to have an independent Indian space program. The ISRO's headquarters are located in Bangalore and have made completed several milestones since the beginning of the of the organization. They put the first Indian in space in 1970. With help from the Russians, they were able to launch their first Indian made satellite into Earths orbit in 1975. Many missions passed and the ISRO built two new rockets and sent a satellite to the moon called Chandrayaan-1. They gathered many information about the moon and may have discovered water on the lunar surface. The India Space Program will hope to send two astronauts to the moon in 2015.
India's polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) C-20 blasts off north of the Indian city Chennai.
India in space: History of Rakesh Sharma
In 1970, Rakesh Sharma joined the Indian Air Force as a pilot. He flew 21 missions during the Bangladesh war until he was selected as a cosmonaut in 1982. he flew aboard the Soyuz-11 with two soviet cosmonauts on a joint Indian-Soviet space flight. In space, Sharma tested and performed experiments that included photography India from space and excessive to study the effects of yoga on the body during weightlessness. The mission lasted nearly eight days in space until finally, Sharma and his team landed in Kazakhstan. Rakesh Sharma then became the first Indian ever to be in space.
Did you know...
The India Space Research Organization is amongst the sixth largest space agency in the world. It is working beside USA's NASA, Russia's RKA, Europe's ESA, China's CNSA, and Japan's JAXA!
ISRO's chairman Dr. Radhakrishna talks through a brochure highlighting India's 100th mission at ISRO's headquarters in Bangalore.
Did you know...
The ISRO made history launching more than 100 successful space missions!
India's future projects
Like several nations, India has decided to send a mission to mars. India's Space Research Organization or ISRO is working on an unmanned Indian aircraft that will travel into mars orbit. It will be launched around November 2013 when Mars is the closest to Earth in its orbit. This journey will take about nine months and will hopefully gather more information on the red planet. Along with going to sending a probe to mars, India plans to send two astronauts to the moon in 2015. This mission will not have the help of the Russian Federal Space Agency. Last time India went to the moon, they detected water on the lunar surface. Hopefully in 2015, they will find out more on that subject.
Biblography
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/india/space_program/index.html
http://www.voanews.com/content/mars-mission-marks-milestone-in-india-space-program/1616134.html
http://www.britannica.com/search?query=India%20space%20program
http://rt.com/news/india-space-satellite-budget-331/
http://www.simplydecoded.com/2013/03/31/india-eying-deep-in-space-a-vivified-dream/