US To Send Indian Astronaut To International Space Station By Year-End: Envoy

US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti has said America will send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station by the end of this year.

The NISAR project, a joint Earth-observing mission between US space agency NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is also likely to be launched by the end of the year, Garcetti said on Wednesday.

"We are going to put an Indian astronaut into the International Space Station this year," he said. "We promised when PM (Narendra) Modi came (to the US in 2023) that by the end of this year, we will do this and our mission is still on track to be able to go in space this year," he said.