India Shocked by Columbia Tragedy but to Continue Space Program

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, February 03, 2003

India Shocked by Columbia Tragedy but to Continue Space Program

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

India expressed shock on Sunday over the loss of US space shuttle Colombia but said the tragedy would not have any direct impact on its current activities under the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

ISRO spokesman S. Krishnamurthi told the Press Trust of India (PTI) that ISRO is planning to send an unmanned spacecraft to orbitthe moon sometime in 2005, which does not require re-entry technology.

"We do not have a manned mission nor are we planning to have one," he said, adding that a reusable vehicle that is under development by ISRO for conducting microgravity experiments "will have a robot and not humans."

ISRO scientists would learn lessons from the break-up of Columbia just as it did from the explosion of Challenger in 1986, which killed seven crew member on board, he said.

However, PTI quoted unidentified sources of the ISRO as saying that even if India had the remotest plan for a manned mission, "wewould have dropped it after what happened to the shuttle" on Saturday.

ISRO Chairman K. Kasturirangan said on Sunday that there is a lesson for every space firing nation from the disintegration of space shuttle Columbia, but the tragedy would not affect India's space program.

ISRO, like every other space firing organization, is eagerly awaiting the findings of the investigation into the mishap.

Another noted scientist, Y. S. Rajan, said that the Columbia mishap could not deter space scientists from taking on more such missions as risks are always a part of any space program.

The accident should not have any implication for Indians or others, said Rajan, who had been associated with ISRO from 1964 to1988 and now scientific advisor to Punjab chief minister.

But an accident would let scientists work for removing difficulties and defects, he said here, adding that after the start of space era in 1957 with former Soviet Union's Sputnik, space science has not looked back.

Questions?Comments? Click here

>> Full Coverage

Beijing to Cancel 'Hotels for Hosting Foreign Visitors' ( 11 Messages)

Crazy Pursuit for Graduate Education, an Ailing Personnel System ( 2 Messages)

Chinese Experts Demand Return of Cultural Relics ( 30 Messages)

Chinese Bid Farewell to Outworn Doctrine of Egalitarianism ( 22 Messages)

Full Text of UN Security Council Resolution 1441 on Iraq ( 3 Messages)