India to launch its 1st manned space mission by 2022 – PM Modi

India will launch its first manned space mission by 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday in his last Independence Day speech ahead of next year’s general election. “India is proud of our scientists, who are excelling in their research and are at the forefront of innovation,” Modi said from the ramparts of the Mughal-era Red Fort in Delhi to a crowd numbering in the tens of thousands, Reuters said. “In the year 2022 or, if possible, before, India will unfurl the tricolor in space.” Months after Modi’s election in 2014, India became the first Asian nation to reach Mars when its first mission to the red planet entered orbit, at a cost of $74 million. In the speech, Modi also said his government would launch from September 25 a previously announced medical insurance scheme, dubbed ‘Modicare,’ to give about 500 million poor people annual health cover of 500,000 rupees ($7,200).