NASA Chief impressed with Indian Space facilities

Bangalore, May 9 (UNI) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Administrator Michael Griffin today said he would carry home the good word about the Indian Space capability to ease sanctions on some of the Indian space entities still in the US' Banned list.

''I will certainly carry a good word home,'' Dr Griffin said when asked by a newsman whether his visit to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) at Thiruvananthapuram would enable the US to remove it from the banned list. All the three were involved in rocket technology.

He was talking to newsmen after inking an MoU with ISRO for providing two US payloads to the Chandrayaan-1 Mission planned for an early 2008 takeoff.

VSSC along with the Liquid Propulsions Systems Centre and the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota continued to be in the banned entities list of the US after certain relaxations were made last year.

The lifting of the ban has helped India import some of the critical systems from the US, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair said.

Dr Griffin was the first NASA Administrator to visit India after over three decades. He looked forward to have an opportunity to see first hand India's impressive space facilities and to learn more about the operation of India's launch vehicles, satellites and control stations. He also mentioned that he had an opportunity to mingle with some of the Indian space scientists who had graduated along with him.

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