No man to moon mission, says Isro

India's first unmanned lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1, was launched by Isro in Oct 2008, and operated until Aug 2009

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said that it is not planning for any 'Man to Moon' mission.

In a statement today, the Organisation said, it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM), Indian Air force, Bangalore in March 2009 to carry out  basic research/studies on Human Physiological and Psychological requirements for Human Space Flight crew and for augmenting/updating existing facilities at IAM to cater to ISRO’s Human Space Flight Programme as a pre project Research & Development activity.

ISRO currently does not have any project on “Man to Moon”. The scope of the MOU between ISRO and IAM does not envisage recruitment of crew for ISRO, said in the statement.

The response comes after a cross section of Media have reported that Isro started recruiting people for its Man to Moon Mission mission.

It may be noted, India's first unmanned lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1, was launched by the Isro in October 2008, and operated until August 2009.

While critics stated that the Mission failed, Isro Chairman K Radhakrishnan said that it was not the mission failed. "We have achieved all the four steps, only the life was a problem. We said two years but after 312 days its closed. People said Chandryaan failed, it is not that Chandrayaan failed".

For Chandrayaan-2, India has decided to go alone, which was originally proposed as an Indo-Russian venture.

It was originally envisaged to be a joint mission between ISRO and the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, which suppose to provide the lander. A study recommended that India could itself realise a lander module in a few years and that it could go in for the mission on its own. The Mission is expected to be launched in 2016.