By Venkatachari Jagannathan

Chennai, Feb 20 (IANS): The US has proposed training to an Indian astronaut as part of future cooperation in the space sector. But the proposed training is not for the astronauts who are part of India's first human space mission Gaganyaan, said a senior official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

"The US has proposed to train an Indian astronaut. It is part of the future engagement and not for Gaganyaan. No plan has been finalised on training of the Indian astronaut by the US," the ISRO official told IANS.

Refuting a news report that states the Gaganyaan astronauts to be trained by the US, the official said the US proposal is only in a discussion stage.

Four Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots have undergone astronaut training in Russia for the Gaganyaan mission.

India plans to send two/three astronauts to space under its first human space mission.

In 1984, an IAF pilot Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to fly into space on a Soviet Union's Soyuz T-11 spacecraft.

The only Indian citizen to have been in outer space is Rakesh Sharma, a former Air Force pilot who flew on a Soviet Soyuz mission in 1984.

Sharma and another IAF pilot Ravish Malhotra underwent training at a Soviet Union facility.