The Russian space capsule Soyuz would be redesigned by India with the aim to send its astronauts on the country's first manned space mission. This comes after India saw success in its unmanned moon mission. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman G Madhavan Nair said, “We will be redesigning the Soyuz space capsule of the Russian agency for our mission.”

During the recent visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to India, a memorandum of understanding was signed by ISRO with the Russian space agency Roskosmos on Joint Activities in the Field of Human Spaceflight Programme.

It has been agreed under this MoU that space scientists from the two countries will jointly build the spacecraft for India's manned mission. The MoU was signed by Nair and his Russian counterpart Anatoly Perminov.