--- title: "India Announces Plan to Send Astronauts to the Moon" description: "After successfully launching its lunar lander, India plans to make history again by sending up its own astronauts to the Moon." date: "2023-10-19" modified: "2023-10-19" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/india-astronauts-moon" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Moon" - "Space" tags: - "india" - "ISRO" - "the digest" - "the moon" --- # India Announces Plan to Send Astronauts to the Moon ![After successfully launching its lunar lander, India plans to make history again by sending up its own astronauts to the Moon.]() *\Image: Futurism\* ## Moon Moves After successfully landing a spacecraft and rover on the Moon, India plans to make history again by sending up its own lunar astronauts. In a [press release](), the Indian government announced that its prime minister Narendra Modi wants the country's space agency to send its first citizen to the Moon by 2040 — an ambitious timeline, given the [country's shoestring space budget](). Back in August, [India became the fourth country ever]() to land on the Moon following the United States, the Soviet Union, and China. Incredibly, it only spent about $74 million doing so, which was less than the budgets of space films like "[Gravity]()" and "[Interstellar]()." It was the country's second attempt at a lunar landing after its [Chandrayaan-2 probe lost contact]() with Indian mission control and was [declared dead]() a few months later. ## Busy Schedule The Moon isn't the only nearby heavenly body India's set its sights on, though its other recently-launched mission received significantly less fanfare than Chandrayaan-3. At the beginning of September, the Indian Space Research Organization launched its [Aditya-L1 solar observatory mission](), which is [on course to reach its vantage point]() over the Sun's gravitationally stable Lagrange Point 1, about a million miles from Earth, in the next few months. Also upcoming on India's busy space schedule is a [joint lunar mission with Japan]() in 2025 to search for water on the Moon, a space station [Modi wants built by 2035](), and proposed missions to both Venus and Mars. The latter will build on India's [successful launch of its Mangalyaan satellite in 2014](), the country's groundbreaking Mars mission that was the first in world history to reach the Red Planet's orbit on its first try. It's clear that India has entered the realm of spacefaring nations with its recent and planned missions — and compared to Russia, whose own [Moon lander crashed]() just days before Chandrayaan-3 landed on the lunar surface, it's looking better than ever. **More on India:** [*China Salty About India's Successful Moon Landing* ]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()