India on track for crewed space mission, says first test flight to launch in late 2021 India’s space program will test a vehicle it expects will soon carry a crew into space in December 2021. Minister of State for Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh, yesterday provided a written answer to questions posed in the nation’s Parliament and said an unmanned flight is planned for December 2021. A second test is …
Just as for the Mercury 7, the astronauts will have trained for far harsher conditions than they will actually experience in space (see The Right Stuff), and I'm sure that will include something more authentic than the food from UK takeaways.
It'd be interesting to see if they ever dock with the ISS... I can imagine the grumbles over the smell now.
(For the record, I once lived in a flat previously occupied by an Indian family, the. The smell of stale turmeric never left the place, you just got used to this. It was especially noticeable after a holiday).
On the flipside, has anyone investigated spices flavours in space? I mean if they don't work in space, then that pretty much blows a hole in Red Dwarf and Dave Lister's adventures in Vindaloos...
"The smell of stale turmeric never left the place"
The smell was more likely to be asafoetida (called hing in Hindi) which is one of the stinkiest substances I've ever encountered, but it does make Indian food taste soooo good. It's the difference between westernised curries and authentic Indian food. I keep my tub of hing inside an airtight jar.
Even if India succeeded to reduce the poverty of its people, a huge part of its population still lives in harsh conditions. In that case, should the space race get so much funding?
What India does in space exploration is astonishing and is a great success, but I believe that money should rather be used to help the many ones in need.
The difference between UK and USA and why these spendings are different is that one is totally post-empire, the other not quite yet - or at least hasn't recognised it.
Your priorities can be different when you aren't trying to control huge swathes of the world by force of arms to ensure free movement of your commerce activities.
If the British Empire hadn't fallen, I doubt we'd be talking about an NHS at all. We'd be talking about how the Royal Navy was the biggest recipient of money and clapping Grand Admirals at 8pm every night.
I wonder what the national Holy Cow is in India? No pun intended, well, maybe a little.
Yes, it can, depending upon the metric it is similar (relative inequality between the top 10 % in either case, rather than absolute poverty). There are a lot of people living in tents with nothing in the US now.
Its not the point, and you are considering it from a socialist perspective - which India isnt.
India has a development plan - mostly affecting its middle class - to move to a more technologically advanced economy. Its not going to get that through providing for its lower classes. It wants to showcase that its up there technically with the top tier economies in the world - and manned flight is one of those milestones. India is growing fast - as is China, Russian and Indonesia - and unfortunate as it is - a LOT of people are left behind or fall back.
It was the same in Blighty during the Industrial revolution
So what is their space budget? (probably less than you think)
How many people are in poverty? (that number will be bigger than you think)
Does the industry supported by the space project keep more people out of poverty, even before the benefits of spin off industries which will be developed.
"Does the industry supported by the space project keep more people out of poverty ... "
Probably not ... yet. But India has a perfectly viable plan that could well see that goal achieve a lot faster than it otherwise would.
I suspect that in a few decades India may be sending a few charitable scraps of its wealth to help the UK's poor.
But before criticising India's priorities, you might consider whether with so many British people now being classed as living below the poverty line, should our governmnet be spending billions on an HS rail link?
Hmmm. That arguement was used when the Apollo 11 astronauts walked on the moon.
Wow! the argument is that old?
I take your point but I can imagine a similar argument in various pharaoh's courts - should we build this or give the poor the money?
Money is only useful when it moves. If it's hoarded then it loses it's value as an aid to trade and exchange. Piles of gold may sound attractive (potential joke opportunity) but not particularly useful or comfortable.
The huge expense and logistical effort in building a pyramid kept many people employed for very many years.
And the US sent people to space the same time as it strung people up from trees . The UK spent money on a rocket program while killing Kenyans in the 1960s.
This is a topic on the space program. Stick to topic instead of dumping your messianic white savior complex all over it. It’s not like New Delhi is ever going to take economic advice from its colonial plunderer .
The President of India is a so called ‘untouchable’. So were two of his predecessors . The Prime Minister is a ‘backward caste’ . The chief architect of the Indian constitution was a Columbia and LSE educated ‘untouchable’ whose education was funded by the upper caste raja of his state . I am an ‘untouchable’ .
Stop trying to sound like YOU know anything about caste .
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