Space
Tourism is set to become a reality in India in the near future. The Indian
Space Research Organization (ISRO) is building human flight capability to
promote space tourism, which is expected to be a multi-trillion-dollar affair
soon.

“ISRO is in
the process of developing indigenous capabilities towards space tourism through
the demonstration of human space flight capability to Low Earth Orbit (LEO),”
Minister of State (Independent Charge) Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra
Singh said.

The premier
space agency recently successfully conducted a static fire test of the boosters
that will power India’s maiden astronaut mission.

In a written
reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the
Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) also seeks
to promote active participation of the private sector in carrying out end-to-end
space activities, which include space tourism as well.

On space diplomacy, the minister said, the ISRO pursues
international cooperation and relations with 61 countries in varied domains of
space activities.

The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre
[IN-SPACe] has been created as a single window agency, under the Department of
Space, to promote, handhold, and authorize the activities of the private sector in the space domain, including those by young entrepreneurs and students interested in
the field of Space Science.

IN-SPACe
will come up with mechanisms to enable sharing of technical facilities and
expertise available across ISRO Centres with private entities.

In a related
question, Dr. Jitendra informed that the Department of Space (DOS) is drafting a comprehensive, integrated Space Policy, which shall provide
direction to the activities of the private Indian space industry.

Meanwhile, Jeff
Bezos’ company Blue Origin is celebrating the anniversary of its first manned
space flight. It flew Bezos on its maiden crewed flight on July 20 last year,
before successfully conducting four more tourist space missions.