Indian Space Agency Prototypes Its First Crew Capsule 48
First time accepted submitter sixsigma1978 writes "India is about to take one small step towards human space flight. Last week the country's space agency unveiled a prototype of its first crew capsule, a 4-meter-high module designed to carry two people into low Earth orbit. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is planning a test flight for later this year – even though it still awaits government approval and funding for a human space-flight program. The unpiloted capsule will fly on the maiden launch of a new type of rocket that would otherwise have carried a dummy payload."
Something new? (Score:2, Insightful)
At least it doesn't look like a modified Soyuz like the Chinese effort. I'm not sure India has the drive or need to put humans in space, but they appear to be trying something different.
Re:Priorities (Score:5, Insightful)
Where are India's priorities? Most of their people don't having running water, electricity and shit in the open. A space agency is a luxury for rich nations, not for poor, backward countries like this.
And these 'rich' countries would be? The US? Russia? China? Get over it. India is probably spending less than .001% of it's GDP on space flight. India's big problem bis corruption. A high tech endevour like space flight is an excellent vehicle for this. Yes, you can bribe your way into making a heat shield, but when it melts in the first 10 minutes of re entry, people are going to notice it and get pissed off. You don't have to wait 30 years for the next earthquake to discover that your contractor can't build anything.
Re:Something new? (Score:5, Insightful)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I... [wikipedia.org]
India seems to be doing space exploration the right way. Less http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O... [wikipedia.org] and the building on other countries efforts.
India seems to have taken its time and allowed science to catch up with its own needs rather than buying into the future and then running out of cash, political support or skill sets.
Long term expect many interesting new ideas with proven tech.