Russia has its cosmonauts, America its astronauts and China, since 2003, its “taikonauts”. Could “gaganauts” be next?

India is searching for a Sanskrit-based word for a spaceman as its top scientists draw up plans for the country’s first manned mission into the cosmos.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), its equivalent of Nasa, said yesterday that it would be ready to send a man into orbit by 2014 and to the Moon by 2020 — four years earlier than China.

The organisation’s experts are due to discuss their options with other scientists at a meeting next week, according to S. Krishnamurthy, the director of information for Isro.

“After this meeting we’ll propose something to the Government,” he said. “It will take six to seven years before we can send anyone around the Earth’s orbit. After that, we’ll look into sending an Indian to the Moon.”

If the Government approves the plan India would stand to become the fourth country to launch a manned space mission after the Soviet Union, the United States and China.

It would be a milestone in India’s quest to become a leading world power and to counterbalance China’s economic and military influence in Asia.

China put its first man into space in 2003 — dubbed a taikonaut after taikong, the Mandarin word for space — and said this year that it aimed to complete a manned lunar landing by 2024.

By comparison, India’s space programme has progressed slowly since its inception in 1962. In July it suffered a big setback when the first commercial communications satellite to be built and launched in India burst into flames and crashed into the Bay of Bengal.

But Isro said that it was a one-off, citing 11 previous successful launches, and has set itself a series of ambitious targets for the next few years.

In December or January, its polar satellite launch vehicle is due to place in orbit a recoverable satellite as part of an experiment to perfect re-entry into the atmosphere. It is scheduled to launch India’s first unmanned mission, Chandrayaan-1, to the Moon, in the first half of 2008.

G. Madhavan Nair, the chairman of Isro, gave a slide presentation on plans for a manned space mission in front of Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister, last month.

Unlike its Chinese counterpart, the Indian organisation has also promised to consult the public before going ahead with a project that would cost about 100 billion rupees (£1.2 billion).

Critics say that the Government should spend the money on alleviating the crushing poverty that afflicts more than a quarter of the population of 1.1 billion.

“The idea is to have a national debate on whether it’s a good idea,” said Mr Krishnamurthy.

“We’re not going to do something just because others have. But if we don’t do it now, after 30 years we might be left behind.”

To help to capture the public’s imagination, Isro is planning to consult Sanskrit scholars on a suitable name for the first Indian in space.

Antarikshyatri is the closest Sanskrit translation of astronaut, according to Chaudury Upender Rao, a Sanskrit expert at Jawaharlal Nehru University.But “antariksh-onaut” does not exactly roll off the tongue. So scholars say that “gaganaut” — from gagan, the Sanskrit word for sky — is the more likely choice.

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