New Delhi, Dec. 6 -- Astronaut and former NASA veteran Mike Massimino has expressed optimism about India's space program, which has major future plans aiming for human landings on the Moon by 2040 and crewed Mars missions.

"I think India is capable of doing great things which they have done in many areas and I am very excited that they are building their space program the way they have and been successful," Massimino said in an interview with ANI from the US.

"They just recently sent an astronaut to the space station and And I think the moon landing was very exciting. I was lucky enough to visit India for the first time last February. And I got to see the excitement around that in different areas. Mainly I was in New Delhi. But it was a...