Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) sent special greetings to India ahead of its 80th Independence Day, holding the Indian tricolor in a video message celebrating decades of India-Russia space cooperation. Cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov opened the message by wishing peace and prosperity to the Indian people.
The message also highlighted another major space milestone: 65 years since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. Gagarin visited India in November 1961, becoming an early symbol of India-Soviet friendship. The crew recalled his appreciation for India’s beauty and its people.
The cosmonauts traced the partnership between the two countries back to 1975, when the Soviet Union launched Aryabhata, India’s first satellite. In 1984, Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to travel to space aboard Soyuz T-11, marking another landmark moment in bilateral space cooperation.
The partnership has since entered a new phase through India’s Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme. Indian astronauts, known as Gaganyatris, have been training at Russia’s Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre ahead of India’s first crewed space mission.
The message also mentioned a joint competition organised by Roscosmos, its India office and ISRO to celebrate the countries’ space cooperation. Winning entries were displayed alongside the greetings.
Cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev closed the message while holding the Indian flag and wishing a long life to India-Russia friendship.
