Article Posted on : - Feb 23, 2009

The manned mission would use the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). ISRO photo

BANGALORE (BNS): The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has got an approval of Rs 12,400 crore from the Planning Commission for a manned space mission launch for 2015.

K Radhakrishnan, Space Commission member and Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, said ISRO wanted to secure formal approval of the plan panel for the project to take off. The space official said that the Rs 12,400-crore expenditure would include setting up long-term facilities and inputs needed for the space vehicle and its entire get-up.

“We intend to put two people in the vehicle and launch them into space for seven days in an orbit of 275 km,” Radhakrishnan said. However, the official did not give any specific information but earlier reports stated that the manned mission would use the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia had a two-hour meeting with top ISRO scientists and officials of the Department of Space on Friday last.

He described the meeting as good and said that the Commission would support ISRO in its endeavour.

Speaking about the Human Space Flight project, Ahluwalia said that it would be executed in two phases. In the first phase, an unmanned flight would be launched in 2013-14 and the second stage in 2014-15 would be a two-man mission, he added.