24 Oct 2019 17:33

India, Russia discussing supply of Russian systems for Indian manned space program - Glavkosmos general director

WASHINGTON. Oct 24 (Interfax) - A delegation of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will visit Russia next week for talks on the supply of Russian weapons for the Indian manned space program, Glavkosmos General Director Dmitry Loskutov told Interfax.

"A delegation of the Indian Space Agency will be in Moscow this week. Talks involving the rocket and space corporation Energia and NPO Zvezda on the contract for the supply of individual systems for the Indian manned program will be held at Glavkosmos," Loskutov said at the International Aeronautical Congress held in Washington.

He said he cannot disclose the details of the agreement before it is signed.

"The contract has not been signed yet, I am not ready to comment, but I can say that substantive dialogue is taking place concerning some systems of the spacecraft," Loskutov said.

Russia also plans cooperation with India on other areas of cosmonautics, but it is now too early to speak about them, he said.

Loskutov said earlier in an interview with Interfax that Russian specialists might assist with the development of India's human spaceflight program.

Glavkosmos is a subsidiary of Roscosmos. It operates the foreign economic activities of the state corporation.

The first Indian citizen to fly into space was Rakesh Sharma, who made a flight on a Soviet Soyuz-T11 spacecraft in April 1984. The flight lasted eight days.