NEW DELHI: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday entered an agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA) to advance human spaceflight missions and boost global collaboration.

“ISRO and ESA have signed an agreement to collaborate on astronaut training, mission implementation, and research experiments, including cooperation for the upcoming Axiom-4 mission. This partnership advances India’s human spaceflight capabilities and global collaboration, ” the Indian space agency shared in a post on social media platform X.

The agreement was signed by Dr. S Somanath, Chairman, ISRO/ Secretary, Department of Space, and Dr. Josef Aschbacher, Director General, ESA.

The agreement provides a framework for cooperative activities in human space exploration and research. This includes areas such as astronaut training, support for experiment development and integration, including the use of ESA facilities on the International Space Station (ISS).

Further, the agreement will also enhance human and biomedical research experiment implementation as well as joint education and outreach activities.

“ISRO has defined a roadmap for human space flight activities and the recent approval of Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS) presents an opportunity to develop interoperability between human spaceflight platforms, ” said Somanath.

“The agreement provides a strong basis of cooperation between the two agencies. The leadership of both agencies expressed satisfaction with the progress of joint activities for the upcoming Axiom-4 mission and underlined the need for continuing cooperative activities in the area of human spaceflight in the future, ” Aschbacher added.

Both ISRO and ESA are part of the upcoming Axiom-4 mission, led by the American private space habitat company, Axiom Space. It is expected to launch as soon as spring 2025.

Even as ISRO’s Gaganyatri and ESA’s astronaut are crew members, both agencies are collaborating to implement shortlisted experiments by Indian principal investigators on ISS, the ISRO said.

Further, participation in ESA’s human physiological studies, technology demonstration experiments as well as joint educational outreach activities are also being pursued, the agency added.