File photo: PSLV XL rocket carrying the Aditya-L1 spacecraft, the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun, is launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on September 02, 2023. (R. Satish Babu / AFP)
India plans to send its first crewed mission to the moon by 2040, building on a successful landing earlier this year.
The country is creating a road map for lunar exploration, which will involve a series of missions, developing a next-generation launch vehicle and a new launchpad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office said in a statement on Tuesday.
Placing humans on the moon would further bolster India’s position in the space race. The country became the first to land near the south pole in August after Russia failed in a similar attempt. The South Asian nation has also sent a probe to study the sun.
The US is planning to send the first humans to explore the region near the south pole of the moon later this decade, in a mission called Artemis III. China is seeking to place astronauts on the moon by 2030.
India will demonstrate its human spaceflight capabilities in a mission called Gaganyaan, scheduled to launch in 2025. The country will set up a space station by 2035 and work on a Venus orbiter as well as a Mars lander, according to the statement.
