US wants India by its side on Moon: US envoy Gor hails space ties

US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor hailed India-United States partnership in the space sector at the Space Expo 2026 in Bengaluru, a month after NASA invited the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to join its Moon Base programme.

"NASA has officially invited ISRO to join us in the Moon base program. Make no mistake. We're going back to the Moon, and we want India by our side on the lunar surface..." Gor said, inviting Indian space entrepreneurs to explore the American market.

Also read: US envoy Gor holds talks with Amazon executives on expanding India footprint


"From space traffic coordination to the upcoming World Radiocommunication Conference in Shanghai, Washington and Delhi are standing shoulder to shoulder to protect open, rules-based space governance against authoritarian dominance," he said.

Speaking at the Bengaluru Space Expo 2026, he said the two countries were bringing complementary strengths to the partnership, with the US contributing private capital and mature commercial ecosystems, while India brings engineering expertise, scientific talent and a strong startup sector.

“Space is no longer a luxury for national pride; today it is the engine of the 21st-century global economy. It powers our navigation, it secures our communications, it trains our artificial intelligence, and it accelerates advanced manufacturing,” the US envoy said.

Highlighting the India-US collaboration in space, Gor said the NISAR mission deminstrates how joint technology could directly contribute to saving lives.

“And when we look at NISAR, we see that NASA and ISRO didn't build a monument to scientific theory; they built a lifesaver. Literally,” he said.

“When a devastating earthquake struck Venezuela just two months ago, NISAR's radar data penetrated dense cloud cover and dust to guide emergency responders directly to ground zero. That is an example of what great things can happen when we work together. That is joint technology saving human lives in real time,” he added.

Gor meets ISRO chief Dr. V. Narayanan

The US envoy to India met ISRO Chairman Dr. V. Narayanan on Monday to discuss US-India space cooperation.

Productive chat with ISRO Chairman Dr. V. Narayanan on taking U.S.-India space cooperation even further, including in the human spaceflight program. NASA’s recent invitation to bring ISRO into its Moon Base program signals how far this partnership can go – to the Moon and beyond," he said in a post on X, sharing glimpses of his meeting with the chief.