If India is successful, it will become the fourth country to accomplish the feat, along with familiar names such as Russia, China, and the United States. Per NPR, India “has been developing its own crewed spacecraft, called Gaganyaan (or “sky vehicle” in Sanskrit), that would let two to three people orbit Earth on a weeklong spaceflight,” and its four mystery astronauts will start their training in Russia in a few weeks.

The announcement was made by K Sivan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, who also stated that his agency had “government approval for its next robotic moon mission, Chandrayaan-3, and that work is already underway,” and expected to launch as early as 2021. The effort follows an unsuccessful attempt in 2020 which resulted in a malfunction and crash landing on the moon.

While the manned space mission is the first time India will be sending astronauts to space on its own, one Indian citizen has been to space — way back in 1984. Indian Air Force pilot Rakesh Sharma had the honor of traveling aboard a Russian spacecraft, paving the way for the two countries’ current stellar relationship. Best of luck, India!