India aims to send astronauts into space by 2022, Modi says

If successful, India would be fourth country to conduct manned space mission

India will send an astronaut into space by 2022, the country's prime minister has claimed during an annual independence day speech.

Narendra Modi announced the target from the ramparts of the 370-year-old Red Fort in Delhi on Wednesday morning. "We have decided that by 2022, when India completes 75 years of independence, or before that, a son or daughter of India will go to space with a tricolour [Indian flag] in their hands," he said.