ISRO: Manned mission to moon by 2020

India is examining the feasibility of launching a manned mission to the moon by 2020, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said on Thursday. Such a mission could cost more than Rs 10,000 crore and a feasibility report was being prepared on the proposal, Nair said while interacting with children at a summer camp organised by the Balasahitya Institute.

ISRO’s unmanned Chandrayaan-I project, to be launched in 2008, will study the moon’s outer surface, he said. Nair described President A P J Abdul Kalam as his “guru” with whom he had worked for 20 years. The ISRO Chairman said he considered the PSLV rocket as his “son” as it was the result of 10 years of hard work.