Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier believes India will rival America, Russia and China in the quest to study the moon and set up lunar space stations. Speaking on the sidelines of a talk at Birla Industrial and Technical Museum in Kolkata, the four-time space voyager said India's strong and successful space programme including lunar mission Chandrayaan-I had prepared the launch pad for a bigger foray into space and moon.

"Moon will emerge as the permanent space station in future with the possibility of radio telescope being set up on the far side of the moon so that it is not affected by earth's radiation. Expect a scramble for lunar missions. US, Russia and China have already announced programmes. India has taken a leap with its moon impact probe launch last year and is poised to take bigger strides by sending her first manned mission to space," he said.

Nicollier, though, believes that unlike the flurry of lunar missions by US and Russia in the space war of the 1960s and '70s, there will be no political one-upmanship this time.

"There is enough space on the moon for all the countries to use it as a platform and probe further into space. I believe there will be a spirit of collaboration given the experience of the international space station. And India will be a key member, providing both human and technical resources," said Nicollier, who has clocked over 1,000 hours in space, including a spacewalk of eight hours and 10 minutes to carry out repairs on the Hubble telescope.

Commending Indian Space Research Organization for developing an independent space programme, the astronaut said collaboration would make sense in projects bigger than lunar probes.

India has been launching foreign satellites with its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from Sriharikota. SwissCube, a mini satellite built by Swiss students, will be launched by PSLV later this year. "This is just the beginning of Indo-Swiss cooperation on space. Much bigger things like larger satellites, space ships and space exploration programmes may follow," he said.

This is Nicollier's fourth trip to India and his second stop at Kolkata. "I've been in love with the country ever since I came with my family as a tourist seven years ago," he said.

National Council of Science Museums director general G S Rautela said students need to look beyond engineering and management for India to maintain its position of strength.

Reaching out to students of 15 city schools in a fascinating talk on his experiences in space, Nicollier said he never tired of watching the fascinating sight of earth from the port holes of the spaceshuttle, which gives astronauts 16 sunrises and sunsets in 24 hours.

"Space is not as far as you think. Just reach out. The actual journey to space from liftoff is very dynamic but short. It takes just eight and a half minutes! It is that near," the astronaut added.