Vinay Mohan Kwatra Hails Historic ISRO–NASA Partnership, Eyes Future Lunar Mission

Indian Ambassador to the US Vinay Mohan Kwatra termed space cooperation between India and the US a robust pillar of the bilateral relationship between the two nations. He added that collaboration between the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the US Space Agency (NASA) has been 'fruitful and historic'.

Ambassador Kwatra was speaking at the India-USA Space Cooperation Program in Washington. Astronauts Sunita Williams, Nick Hague, Butch Wilmore, and Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Air Force had also attended the meeting.

He remembered that the India-US space voyage started in the 1970s with missions like the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE). It was meant to expand access to education. This partnership has since grown to various high-level missions. They include the Chandrayaan series, India's accession into the Artemis Accords, and the joint NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission launched earlier in the year.

Kwatra said that looking at the future, India is planning a manned lunar mission and a space station between 2028 and 2035 and NASA will continue to be an important partner in this.

Meanwhile, addressing the event, Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams highlighted her experience as the commander of Expedition 72 and called it an 'extremely difficult challenge', underlining the importance of teamwork, flexibility, and communication. Williams said that it is a very difficult challenge, but we have been very fortunate in our time to see different things. We have only taken your different experiences and added them to the spacecraft you are training for.

She further said that we thought we would not be there for long, but the mission lasted longer than expected. The biggest thing we learned was the importance of team cooperation and the importance of listening to each other. Teamwork is actually equally important for survival and success.

The mission, which began in September 2024 and ended with the splashdown of Crew-9 in March this year, was successful in conducting more than 1,000 hours of research on human health, materials science, biology, and fire safety. It also enhanced 3D metal printing capabilities in orbit and produced the first wooden satellite for deployment. Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Air Force, selected for India's human space flight programme, joined the event virtually. His presence was highlighted as a symbol of India's next phase in human space exploration in collaboration with international partners.