Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday said the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was in the process of developing indigenous capabilities towards space tourism through the demonstration of human space flight capability to Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Singh said, the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) also sought to promote active participation of the private sector in carrying out end-to-end space activities, which also includes space tourism.
To a question on space diplomacy, the minister said ISRO pursued international cooperation and relations with 61 countries in varied domains of space activities.
IN-SPACe is a single window agency under the Department of Space to promote, handhold and authorize the activities of the private sector in the space domain.
The space tourism market has catapulted in the last couple of years with private aerospace companies dominating the field as government space agencies playing catch up. Elon Musk founded SpaceX is leading the space tourism market with its Dragon spacecraft taking people on tourism flights in zero gravity.
Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos-led Blue Origin is another big player with its New Shepard spacecraft launching from West Texas with passengers in brief joyrides to space. The flights last nearly 10 minutes, giving the passengers a view of the Earth from outside it.
ISRO is currently working on several other missions as it looks to conduct its first human spaceflight launch with the Gaganyaan mission, with an uncrewed launch delayed to next year.
