The US has secured a ride to orbit for the first mission with India to the International Space Station, the White House announced this week.
Officials provided the update after the second US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies in New Delhi, which was led by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.
Background: The news is a follow-on to the space agreements reached during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the White House in June 2023. At that meeting, the leaders announced a long-term plan of a joint mission to the ISS, in addition to increased data sharing and climate research. India also became the 27th Artemis Accords signatory during Modi’s visit.
It takes two: The leaders announced plans for the joint ISS mission last year, but “securing a carrier” for the flight is a significant update, though they didn’t provide details on which spacecraft would send the astronauts to the orbiting lab.
While the joint US-Indian mission to the ISS was the highest-profile update to come out of the meeting, the fact sheet also highlighted other areas of increased cooperation in space including:
- Working toward beginning ISRO astronaut training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center
- Establishing a relationship between the Space Force and Indian space startups on missions such as SSA and semiconductor production
- Welcoming India to begin participating in Space Command’s Global Sentinel Exercise starting next year
- Getting ready to launch a joint SAR satellite designed to boost EO
- Discussing the potential for India to join NASA’s Lunar Gateway program
Industry intel: While in New Delhi, Sullivan and Doval also held a roundtable with companies from both nations to learn how the governments can help facilitate bipartisan cooperation between the space industries.
