NEW DELHI: Extending a helping hand to India in its maiden human spaceflight mission, French space agency CNES on Thursday announced a space agreement with Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) for cooperation in the Gaganyaan mission that will facilitate French assistance in space equipment, consumables and space medicine. Isro will also be using French expertise in setting up its own space station.
The agreement was signed during the official visit of French foreign affairs minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to Isro’s Human Space Flight Centre in Bangalore. Under the pact, CNES will train India’s flight physicians and CAPCOM mission control teams in France at the CADMOS centre for the development of microgravity applications and space operations at CNES in Toulouse and at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany.
The agreement provides a window for CNES to support the implementation of a scientific experiment plan on validation missions, exchange information on food packaging and nutrition programme, and use by Indian astronauts of French equipment, consumables and medical instruments.