New Delhi, July 31: Aiming to upgrade and give a boost to India's human spaceflight programme - Gaganyaan Mission - country apex space research firm is all set to build an Isro technical liaison unit (ITLU) in Moscow. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with this mission is looking forward to collaborating with space agencies and industries in Russia and neighbouring countries. The PM Modi-led Union government had already given a nod to for this unit on Wednesday.

Releasing a statement and providing more information, ISRO said, as quoted by TOI, "Isro needs this Moscow unit to accelerate its Gaganyaan programme as the agency requires 'development of some key technologies and establishment of specialised facilities, which are essential to support life in space'." Russia to Help India in Futuristic Space Projects Including 'Gaganyaan'

According to the plan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Union government is mulling fix 2022 for the Gaganyaan mission. In this aspired mission, India would send three astronauts to space for seven days. For this, ISRO will have to avail technical cooperation from Russia, which has previously sent cosmonauts to space.

It is to be known that, earlier ISRO had signed an agreement with Russian launch service provider Glavkosmos in June this year, under which advanced training to its astronauts for the space mission was included. It is estimated that for ITLU office, ISRO will have to spend around Rs 1.5 crore per annum for maintaining this unit, while the construction of the unit will take six months. Previously, such units were set up in Washington and Paris by the Department of Space.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 31, 2019 11:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).