A manned space flight is proposed before 2015, at a budget of Rs 12.4 billion ($242 million), using a fully autonomous orbital vehicle carrying two or three crew members to 400km (250 miles) low Earth orbit for up to 7 days and back. Development of fully autonomous orbital vehicle to carry a two-member crew into a low Earth orbit has already began. ISRO will set up full-fledged training facility in Bangalore for training astronauts. ISRO is also planning to build third launch pad at Sriharkota for manned mission with extra facilities like entry into the crew capsule and an escape chute.
A 100 acre astronaut training is planned to be completed on the outskirts of Bangalore by 2012 by ISRO in collaboration with IAM Bangalore at a cost of Rs 10 billion.
India and Russia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Joint Activities in the Field of Human Spaceflight Program during the visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to India in December 2008.
As per the agreement, an Indian astronaut will first go on a space mission on a Russian spacecraft (Soyuz, 2013). This will be followed by an Indian manned mission to space in 2015.
The spacecraft is being designed for a seven day mission on completion of which it will splash down either in the Arabian Sea or the Bay of Bengal.
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