Expanding bilateral space sector cooperation, including human space flights by India, will be discussed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington, DC on Thursday, said people with knowledge of the matter. The two sides are exploring collaboration on astronaut training, crew rescue, and other activities in human space flight during the PM’s trip, they said. Under the US-India initiative on critical and emerging technologies (iCET) launched by the national security advisors of the two countries, the White House had earlier this year mentioned strengthening human space flight cooperation; identifying innovative approaches to collaborate in the commercial space, including through a joint working group; and identifying new talent and encouraging exchanges by expanding the professional engineer and scientist exchange programme.

The space collaboration between the two countries will also help India’s Gaganyaan human space flight mission, said the people cited earlier. Recently, India and the US set up a human space flight working group under iCET.

India and the US have been collaborating on certain aspects of the space sector. The NASA Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), the low earth orbit observatory being jointly developed by NASA and Isro is expected to be launched in January 2024. The observatory desires to monitor the earth’s changing ecosystems, ice mass, ocean levels, and natural hazards.

Earlier this year, India and the US held key meetings in Washington, DC to expand civil space cooperation. In a White House statement on January 31, the countries announced they would arrange for training of an Indian astronaut at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. India had also sent several Indian Air Force pilots to the Star City cosmonaut training centre in Russia for training for India’s Gaganyaan human space flight programme.