A French delegation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs visited the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) headquarters in Bengaluru.
The delegation led by committee president Jean-Louis Bourlanges visited ISRO headquarters on Thursday as part of its overall India visit coordinated by the Ministry of External Affairs.
ISRO and the Department of Space delegation led by R. Umamaheswaran, director ISRO’s Human Space Flight Centre, briefed the French delegation on the Indian space programme, highlighting the developments in the Gaganyaan programme and the opening of the space sector in India.
“While appreciating the long-standing bilateral space cooperation and the opportunities available for the industries in the space sector, the French Parliamentary delegation agreed to work for continued support from the French government for further strengthening the India-France space relations,” ISRO said.
In April 2021, ISRO and the French National Space Agency CNES signed an agreement for cooperation for the Gaganyaan mission by sharing its expertise in space medicine.
As per the agreement, ISRO had asked CNES to help prepare for Gaganyaan missions and to serve as its single European contact in this domain. Besides, CNES would train India’s flight physicians and CAPCOM (Capsule Communication) mission control teams in France at the CADMOS centre for the development of microgravity applications and space operations at CNES in Toulouse and at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.
