GaganyaanMission to send Indians to Space

Last Updated on February 12, 2019 by Bharat Saini

Gaganyaan:“The mission will be capable of carrying three Indian astronauts and will orbit the Earth for seven days. It is a major expansion in ISRO’s Programme. A new Centre – Human Space Flight Centre is formed and will be the lead Centre for the overall management and realization of Gaganyaan.”“Gaganyaan is our highest priority now”, said Dr K Sivan,Chairman Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)and Secretary, Department of Space.

Gaganyaan was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in last year’s Independence Day address, “We have resolved that by 2022, when India celebrates 75 years of independence, or maybe even before that, certainly some of our young boys and girls will unfurl the tricolour in space”.

• Gaganyaan, ISRO’s maiden human spaceflight mission, its ₹9023-crore programme, will be launched aboard the heavy lift launch vehicle GSLV Mark III.
• GSLV Mark III, which got operational in November after its second successive flight in a row, must be suitably certified or human-rated.
• It will have two non-crew flights in December 2020 and July 2021
• Actual flight with crew is targeted to happen by December 2021 to meet Prime Minister’s goal of August 2022.
• Women missions will also be part of the team in this mission.

Indian Air Force will select of astronauts provide training at Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Bengaluru and advanced training could be offered in Russia, “Many countries have shown up their hands (to provide training facilities) that include Russia, the French agency and others. All the space agencies have been very – very cooperative. They are willing to help us out with the training,” the ISRO chairman said.

India will be the fourth country in the world to send human missions to space.

Human Space Flight Centre(HSFC),based in Bengaluru,which will carry out all activities related to the human programme for Gaganyaan Project has been created, as announced by Dr. Sivan on Friday 11 January 2019.

• Unnikrishnan Nair, Rocketman from Kerala, who led ISRO’s Advanced Space Transportation Programme at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and has already worked in the area as Director of the Human Space Flight Project,has been appointed as Director of the new centre.
• Hutton, who helmed PSLV light lift vehicle programme atVSSC in Thiruvananthapuram, will be the project director in Dr. Nair’s team and his deputy.
• Facility would be staffed by a dedicated team, with ISRO planning to deploy 800 to 900 people over time on the project.
• ISRO’s Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, which produces about 100 space engineers each year, would be a primary source of talent.