India, in cooperation with Russia, has transitioned from being a recipient of rocket and space technologies to developing its own. This was stated by Pyotr Topychkanov, head of the new challenges sector in South and Southeast Asia at the Center for the Indo-Pacific Region of IMEMO RAS.
When we started this cooperation, India was a beneficiary of the technologies and capabilities that the USSR possessed.
Soviet engineers assisted India with satellites and launch vehicles. In addition, Indian specialists studied the operation of ground communication infrastructure systems, cosmodromes, and the training of cosmonauts and pilots, Topychkanov added.
In the 1990s, Indian authorities became interested in creating their own technologies. Now they are developing technologies "closely linked to the experience of the USSR and Russia." This refers to heavy rockets and engines for manned space flights, the expert concluded.
Launches from Kapustin Yar
India's first space satellite, "Aryabhata," was launched in the spring of 1975 by the Soviet "Kosmos-3M" launch vehicle from the Kapustin Yar missile range in the Astrakhan region.
From the same site in 1979, the "Intercosmos" launch vehicle with the experimental remote sensing satellite "Bhaskara-1" was launched. Another Indian satellite, "Bhaskara-2," was launched from Kapustin Yar in 1981.
