Giant leap

Manned space mission has several benefits

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day announcement that India will develop a programme to put an Indian into space sets new targets for the Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) and the Indian aerospace community. Unlike the Russian space programme and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (or Nasa) in the US, Indian space research has always focused completely on unmanned missions. Moving to a manned programme will involve research and development of a whole new range of technologies. Apart from the unquantifiable benefit of inspiring young scientists with a new set of goals and boosting national pride, there are concrete