Thursday 31 / October / 2024
New Delhi: Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang has called Chandrayaan-3's success "amazing and outstanding." He said that he is looking forward to the next Indian mission like that.
In an interview with ANI, Fuglesang said that he is expecting to see the Gaganyaan flight with Indian astronauts on the Indian rocket and Indian capsule.
On being asked about the Chandrayaan-3 success, he said, "The kind of landing of Vikram lander and Rover, I thought that was so amazing. That was really outstanding and I think the whole world was kind of applauding for that. And I'm very excited, looking forward to the next Indian mission like that. And while being an astronaut, I guess I'm mainly expecting now to see the Gaganyaan flight with the Indian astronauts on the Indian rocket and Indian capsule."
India took a giant leap as the Chandrayaan-3 lander module successfully landed on the moon's South Pole on August 23, making it the first country to have achieved the historic feat. After having landed, the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover performed different sets of tasks on the lunar surface for about 14 days.
Christer Fuglesang noted that there are a lot of possibilities for Sweden and India to work together in the space sector. The Swedish Space Corporation is developing services for the sustainable use of space, which is an area of mutual interest for both countries. He also talked about 'Space Sustainability' and the vital role of space exploration in combating climate challenges.
On India-Sweden space collaboration, he said, "So I think we have a lot of possibilities to work together. Sweden is not a big country, but it really has a very high technological competence in certain areas. And by working to India, we can kind of give that India. We can learn a lot of all the experience and everything you're doing here. So, we should find more ways to work together. And I'm so happy that there will be now an Indian-Swedish Space Centre of Excellence that will help. "
Notably, India and Sweden have been partners in space technology for over 35 years, which was facilitated by a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 1986.
Christer Fuglesang participated in the celebration of 75 years of diplomatic relations between India and Sweden. Sweden's Ambassador to India, Jan Thesleff, hosted a gala reception at his residence on Friday to celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations between India and Sweden.
Fuglesang is an astronaut and professor at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, while also working part-time as a space advisor for saab. He has a PhD in experimental particle physics from Stockholm University and has worked for CERN and ESA. During his visit to India, he will be meeting with ISRO and its IN-SPACE team to discuss the space programmes.
