India To Launch First Manned Space Mission By 2022 (hindustantimes.com)

India will launch its first manned space mission by 2022, the country's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday, which could make it the fourth nation to do so after the United States, Russia and China. From a report: Modi congratulated Indian scientists for excelling in their research and are at the forefront of innovation. "Our scientists have made us proud. They launched over 100 satellites... They successfully completed the Mars mission." ISRO, India's space agency, successfully launched 104 satellites on 15 February 2017, of which three were Indian while the rest were foreign commercial satellites. The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called Mangalyaan, India's first interplanetary mission was launched on November 5, 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It has been orbiting Mars since September 24, 2014.

Comments

I agree

[Comboman]

I'm sorry but doesn't America have much more urgent things to take care of such as universal health care and drinkable public water in Flint rather than space exploration (sorry, I mean "Space Force").

Re:I agree

[110010001000]

It definitely does, but rich people like to play with rockets instead of solving real problems.

Re:I agree

[CrimsonAvenger]

I'm sorry but doesn't America have much more urgent things to take care of such as universal health care and drinkable public water in Flint rather than space exploration (sorry, I mean "Space Force").

Well...

Universal Healthcare is not strictly a Federal issue, what with the whole Constitution thing specifying that anything not specifically allowed to the Feds is a State matter. On the other hand, FDR pretty much threw that Constitutional issue out the window back in the 1930's, and got the Supremes of the day to go along with it by threatening to just add more Justices till he had the required majority. So I could go either way on it.

Water in Flint Michigan? Nope, not a Federal issue. You can't even use the Interstate Commerce clause to cover that, since it's purely a local matter. So talk to the government of Michigan if you want that dealt with.

All that aside, the Constitution does seem to give the Federal government the Power to do military things. Like this Space Force (warning: I've ignored all the news about the Space Force, but it looks like the sort of interservice rivalry that led to the Key West Accords).

So, while Universal Healthcare might be more important than the Space Force, the Space Force is something that can pass Constitutional muster easier than Universal Healthcare.

And what any of this has to do with India wanting to put men in space, I can't imagine.

As to India putting men in space, I am thinking that four years is too short a timeline, unless they're trying for something comparable to Mercury or Vostok. Which would be a waste of time and money. Stretch the timeline to ten years, and they can probably get their own space program going in a respectable sort of way....

Re:Impressive

[Anonymous Coward]

Impressive, but where are they planning on going?

Space travel is 10% science and 90% demonstrating that you can lob a nuke around the earth.

But, hey, it's that 90% that pays for the science.

By 2022? Never Gonna Happen...

[Tempest_2084]

Has no one ever dealt with the Indian government before? There's way too much corruption to make this a realistic goal by 2022. Will they eventually get into space? Sure, but it's going to take longer then four years. It will take that long just to grease the proper palms to get the paperwork approved much less build anything.

Oh dear lord not this again

[JaredOfEuropa]

They are working on both. And their space budget is a tiny fraction of the budget for rural development.

Re:Impressive

[evil crash]

Impressive, but where are they planning on going? Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids. In fact it's cold as hell.

True, but it's less crowded than Mumbai.

For now...

Re:Impressive

[Kjella]

Space travel is 10% science and 90% demonstrating that you can lob a nuke around the earth. But, hey, it's that 90% that pays for the science.

I think you're projecting Cold War history on everyone else. India doesn't have any particular need for ICBMs, if they're going to start a shooting war with anyone it'll probably be Pakistan and they're right next door. The driving force here was probably business, providing a cheaper alternative to the US/European/Russian launch options for telecom, observation satellites and so on. It probably looked like a good idea, I mean the Proton rocket is a 50+ year old design and was up until recently pretty competitive so if India could undercut them on labor cost they could become the "budget" launch provider. Of course then SpaceX happened...

Re:Impressive

[careysub]

Space travel is 10% science and 90% demonstrating that you can lob a nuke around the earth. But, hey, it's that 90% that pays for the science.

I think you're projecting Cold War history on everyone else. India doesn't have any particular need for ICBMs, if they're going to start a shooting war with anyone it'll probably be Pakistan and they're right next door.

So why are they testing the Agni 5, with an 8,000 kilometer range?

The answer is that they want to deter China, which they fought a war with in 1962 (China attacked them). There are also outstanding territorial disputes with China holding territory claimed by India (and held by India before being taken from them by force), and then there are India's sharp disagreements about Chinese policy in Tibet. And the general dislike most major nations have about other nations holding the threat of nuclear firepower over their heads without a way to respond.

The assumption that India is "going to start a shooting war" is unwarranted.