New Delhi: Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech on Wednesday announcing an Indian space mission by 2022, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K Sivan said that the project has been underway and as PM Modi has given the target it is "our duty to meet it". Sivan further assured that ISRO is already on the job and has completed many technologies.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Sivan said, "PM has given the target of 2022 and it's our duty to meet it. We are already on the job. We have completed many technologies like crew module and escape systems. The project has been underway, now we need to prioritise and achieve the target."
In his speech from the ramparts of Delhi's Red Fort, PM Modi announced that by 2022, an Indian astronaut, be it a man or a woman, will go on a space odyssey on board 'Gaganyaan'.
He said when India celebrates the 75th year of Independence in 2022, "and if possible even before, an Indian son or daughter" will undertake a manned space mission on board 'Gaganyaan' "carrying the national flag".
Chandrayaan-1 was India's first lunar probe. It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation in October 2008 and operated until August 2009. Mangalyaan is another Indian space project.
The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called Mangalyaan, is a space probe orbiting Mars since September 24, 2014.
