New Delhi, Aug. 21: An Indian astronaut is likely to fly to the International Space Station by April next year as part of the NASA-ISRO collaborative initiative, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday.

Two Indian astronaut-designates Group Captains Shubhanshu Shukla and Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair are undergoing training in the US for the Axiom Space Ax-4 mission. ISRO  has assigned Shukla for the Ax-4 mission while Nair would be the backup candidate.

“An Indian astronaut will travel to the ISS by April next year,” Singh told a press conference here ahead of the first-ever National Space Day celebrations to mark the landing of Vikram lander on the Moon on August 23 last year.

The theme for the National Space Day is ‘Touching Lives while Touching the Moon: India’s Space Saga’. On the occasion, ISRO will release on August 23 the scientific data collected by the Chandrayaan-3 mission that could be used by researchers.

More than one thousand events have been organised across the country over the last two months.

President Droupadi Murmu will participate in the National Space Day celebrations at the Bharat Mandapam here and give away prizes to the winners of the Bharatiya Antariksh Hackathon and ISRO Robotics Challenge.

Briefing reporters on the upcoming space missions, ISRO Scientific Secretary Shantanu Bhatawdekar said the ISRO-NASA joint mission NISAR was expected to be launched after February next year. 

The 12-meter reflector of the earth observation satellite, billed as the most expensive ever built, had developed an anomaly and was sent back to the US for corrective measures. The reflector is expected to be back in India by October and integrated with the satellite.

“Since November to January is the period of solar eclipses, NISAR cannot be launched before February,” Bhatawdekar said.

The Chandrayaan-4 mission is expected to be launched in 2027 subject to approval from the government, he said, adding the aim of the mission was to bring back samples of lunar rock and soil to Earth.

The ISRO-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission to explore the polar region of the moon has been designated as Chandrayaan-5, Bhatawdekar said.

The Lunar Polar Exploration (LUPEX) project is an international cooperative project, with JAXA in charge of the lunar rover and ISRO responsible for the lander that will carry the rover. Observation instruments from NASA and the European Space Agency will also be mounted on the rover.-Agencies