Indian astronauts in the future...

According to the article "India’s Space Agency Proposes Manned Spaceflight Program" ( www.space.com/news/061110_india_mannedspace.html ) ISRO plans human spaceflight with the first orbital flight in 2014 - remember american plans - and the first lunar landing in 2020 - also close to plans of one or two other countries.

Another nation entering the inofficial space race even to the Moon?

The missions will be indigenous explicitly.



The seem to have in mind mining like Russia and as well using the Moon as a base for cheaper and easier launches and flights to the other planets:



[quote]“We cannot do experiments in [the] space shuttle as the shuttle is not ours,â€

Stringent Quality Check For GSLV Parts
Dec 08, 2006
http://www.space-travel.com/
An expert committee probing the crash of a satellite launch vehicle on July 10 this year has recommended "very stringent" quality checks on the supplied components, Rajya Sabha was informed Friday. Minister of State in the Prime Minister Office, Prithviraj Chavan, said the explosion in Geo-Stationary Launch Vehicle (GSLV), which was to put INSAT-4C communication satellite into the orbit, resulted in a loss of Rs 256 crore.

The primary cause of mission failure was attributed to the loss of thrust in one liquid strap-on motor due to malfunctioning of propellent regulator.

Suppose If India had collaborated with the International Space Station, as France has done, it would have “by default” had astronauts routinely trained — either in the U.S. or Russia — and “formed a strong astronaut cadre.” He added: “We could have got there earlier — perhaps five years ago. A quarter-century seems like a long time.”