OREANDA-NEWS. April 18, 2011. An Indian cosmonaut will first go on a Russian space mission in 2015, prior to the Indian manned mission in 2017, Alexey M Mzareulov, deputy consul-general of the Russian Federation, announced.

He made the announcement at the 50th anniversary celebrations of the first human space flight by Yuri Gagarin, organized by the Russian Centre for Science & Culture, which saw many American diplomats.