Russia and India to boost space cooperation – Roscosmos

The head of the Russian agency has said the two countries will collaborate in engine building and space flights

Russia and India plan to boost space cooperation significantly, the head of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, has said.

Plans for mutually beneficial cooperation in the area will be revealed shortly, Dmitry Bakanov told Izvestia on Wednesday.

“Fields for collaboration include engine building, rocket fuel, piloted spaceflight, and the development of national orbital stations,” Bakanov said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive in New Delhi on a two-day state visit on December 4. Russia views Putin’s visit as a major step toward deepening Moscow’s partnership with the South Asian nation. 

Putin has also hinted at taking cooperation with India to a new level by enhancing technological ties.

Defense and space cooperation is likely to be high on the agenda during the visit. New Delhi and Moscow have partnered in the defense sector since the early 1960s.

In 1984, Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to travel to space aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft.

Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to visit the International Space Station (ISS), underwent an extensive training program with three others at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow in 2020. 

Russia is also working with India on its upcoming human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan.

In January, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully completed the in-orbit docking of its SpaDeX satellites, making India the fourth country to achieve the milestone after Russia, the US, and China.

The accomplishment is considered crucial for India’s future space endeavors, such as building its own space station and sending an astronaut to the Moon.