India plans manned space mission by 2015

That will be preceded by an unmanned moon mission in April 2008

HYDERABAD, India - India plans a manned space mission by 2015, using indigenous systems and technology, a top scientist said Thursday.

That will be preceded by an unmanned moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, in April 2008, G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of state-run Indian Space Research Organization, told reporters.

However, there was no immediate plan to send a manned mission to the moon as that required a very powerful rocket system, Nair said on the sidelines of an international astronautical conference being held in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.