Mockup of India's human spacecraft (Credit: ISRO)
There’s a bit of a tug-of-war going on in India over who will be aboard the nation’s first human space vehicle in 2015:
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) are at loggerheads over who will be on board the spacecraft when the country’s first manned mission into space is launched in 2015.
Traditionally, countries that have sent men into space have chosen Air Force pilots as astronauts….But ISRO, which will plan and execute the mission, is challenging the conventional wisdom. It wants its own scientists on board the spacecraft. “It is not necessary that only men from the Services can be selected to become astronauts. Scientists from within ISRO can also be sent on the spacecraft,” says S. Satish, director of public relations at ISRO.
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