France’s CNES calls for long-term collaboration with ISRO on human spaceflight

Jean-Yves Le Gall, president, CNES, France’s national centre for space studies, has called for cooperation between France and India in human spaceflight mission.

He said the CNES’s support for the Gaganyaan missions is the first step towards future collaboration on development of India’s planned space station.

The CNES president highlighted how France has acquired more than 40 years of experience in human spaceflight and developed highly sophisticated facilities in this field in Toulouse, such as the CADMOS (centre for the development of microgravity applications and space operations) and the MEDES (space medicine and physiology institute), backed by world-renowned French expertise in space medicine.


Gall, who was the guest of honour at the international Human Spaceflight Symposium organized in Bangalore, said CNES and ISRO’s teams have finalized drafting of the agreement to provide services at CADMOS and MEDES in collaboration with ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) and potentially at Novespace to conduct experiments and training on parabolic flights aboard the Air Zero G.

“We want cooperation between France and India in human spaceflight to evolve into a long-term partnership along the same lines as our 15-year collaboration on climate-monitoring satellites and 50 years working together on launchers,” said Gall.

CNES and ISRO had signed an agreement in 2018, when the Gaganyaan programme was first announced, to train Indian flight physicians provide training in France and the use of equipment developed by CNES by the country’s future astronauts.