New Delhi, India: Get ready for liftoff! India has officially announced the four brave astronauts who will embark on the Gaganyaan mission, the country’s first ever human spaceflight program.

Soaring High

• This mission marks a significant milestone in India’s space exploration journey, aiming to launch astronauts into space by 2024-2025.
• The astronauts, all Indian Air Force pilots, were introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, igniting the nation’s aspirations.
• This mission follows India’s successful lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, and the Aditya-L1 solar exploration launch, further solidifying its position as an emerging space power.

Meet the Crew

• Gp. Capt. P. Balakrishnan Nair
• Gp. Capt. Ajit Krishnan
• Gp. Capt. Angad Pratap
• Wg. Cdr. S. Shukla

These astronauts have undergone rigorous training in Russia, and their dedication paves the way for future human space exploration endeavors.

Beyond the Moon

• This ambitious mission aims to send astronauts into a 400 km orbit for a three-day period, marking a historic step for India.
• The ultimate goal, however, is even more remarkable – landing an astronaut on the moon by 2040.
• Additionally, India plans to establish its own space station by 2035, further solidifying its commitment to space exploration and research.

A New Era Dawns

This announcement signifies a new chapter in India’s space odyssey, demonstrating its unwavering commitment to pushing boundaries and making significant contributions to scientific advancements. The world eagerly awaits the launch of the Gaganyaan mission, witnessing the next chapter in human space exploration unfold.

Gaganyaan mission

India’s four astronaut-designates selected for the ambitious Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission set for launch in 2025 are undergoing intense training at the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) crew training facility in Bengaluru.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday handed the astronaut wings to the selected candidates, who will fly to space, as part of the Gaganyaan Mission.

The astronaut quartet comprising Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla have a packed schedule filled with classroom sessions, simulator training, microgravity familiarization, survival drills and flying practices.

“They are being trained on aero-medical aspects, recovery and survival procedures in addition to academic courses on Gaganyaan flight systems,” an ISRO official told news agency PTI. “Training modules also include physical fitness, simulator training and spacesuit familiarization.”

The mission-specific preparations commenced after the four astronauts completed their general spaceflight training in Russia at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

As per ISRO sources, the current training curriculum consists of over 200 specialised lectures by ISRO scientists and Indian Institute of Science faculty. The crew has also gone through 75 fitness sessions and 12 hours of flying practices besides medical checkups and progress evaluations.

The facility in Bengaluru houses various simulators like the Independent Training Simulator, Virtual Reality Training Simulator, Dynamic Training Simulator and Static Mock-up Simulator to equip the astronauts-in-training for nominal and emergency scenarios during the mission.

The intensive regimen will provide hands-on experience in operating the crew module’s critical systems before the astronauts embark on their historic voyage aboard India’s heavy-lift GSLV Mk III rocket by 2025-end.

The ambitious Gaganyaan project aims to demonstrate indigenous capability to undertake human spaceflights by sending a three-member crew to low earth orbit for three days and safely bringing them back.

India aims to become the fourth country in the world to independently send humans to space.

November 23, 2022

The primary mandate of HSFC is to spearhead ISRO’s Gaganyaan programme through co-ordinated efforts and focus all the activities that are carried out in other ISRO centres, research labs in India, Indian academia and Industries towards accomplishing the mission. HSFC, as the lead Centre for Human space flight activities conforms to high standards of reliability and human safety in undertaking R&D activities in new technology areas, such as life support systems, Human Factors Engineering, Bioastronautics, Crew training and Human rating & certification. These areas would constitute important components for future sustained human space flight activities like rendezvous and docking, space station building and interplanetary collaborative manned missions to Moon/Mars and near-earth asteroids.

Gaganyaan

Gaganyaan project envisages demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching crew of 3 members to an orbit of 400 km for a 3 days mission and bring them back safely to earth, by landing in Indian sea waters.

The project is accomplished through an optimal strategy by considering inhouse expertise, experience of Indian industry, intellectual capabilities of Indian academia & research institutions along with cutting edge technologies available with international agencies. The pre-requisites for Gaganyaan mission include development of many critical technologies including human rated launch vehicle for carrying crew safely to space, Life Support System to provide an earth like environment to crew in space, crew emergency escape provision and evolving crew management aspects for training, recovery and rehabilitation of crew.

Various precursor missions are planned for demonstrating the Technology Preparedness Levels before carrying out the actual Human Space Flight mission. These demonstrator missions include Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT), Pad Abort Test (PAT) and Test Vehicle (TV) flights. Safety and reliability of all systems will be proven in unmanned missions preceding manned mission.

Human rated LVM3 – HLVM3

LVM3 rocket – The well proven and reliable heavy lift launcher of ISRO, is identified as the launch vehicle for Gaganyaan mission. It consists of solid stage, liquid stage and cryogenic stage. All systems in LVM3 launch vehicle are re-configured to meet human rating requirements and christened Human Rated LVM3. HLVM3 will be capable of launching the Orbital Module to an intended Low Earth Orbit of 400 km.

HLVM3 consists of Crew Escape System (CES) powered by a set of quick acting, high burn rate solid motors which ensures that Crew Module along with crew is taken to a safe distance in case of any emergency either at launch pad or during ascent phase.

Orbital Module

Orbital Module (OM) that will be Orbiting Earth comprises of Crew Module (CM) and Service Module (SM). OM is equipped with state-of-the-art avionics systems with adequate redundancy considering human safety.

CM is the habitable space with Earth like environment in space for the crew. It is of double walled construction consisting of pressurized metallic Inner Structure and unpressurised External Structure with Thermal Protection System (TPS). It houses the crew interfaces, human centric products, life support system, avionics and deceleration systems. It is also designed for re-entry to ensure safety of the crew during descent till touchdown.

SM will be used for providing necessary support to CM while in orbit. It is an unpressurized structure containing thermal system, propulsion system, power systems, avionics systems and deployment mechanisms.

New technologies being developed for Gaganyaan

Human safety is of paramount importance in Gaganyaan mission. In order to ensure the same, various new technologies comprising of Engineering systems and Human centric systems are being developed and realised.

Crew training for Gaganyaan

Astronaut Training Facility established in Bengaluru caters to Classroom training, Physical Fitness training, Simulator training and Flight suit training. Training modules cover academic courses, Gaganyaan Flight Systems, Micro-gravity familiarization through Parabolic Flights, Aero-medical training, Recovery & Survival training, mastering of Flight Procedures and training on Crew Training Simulators. Aero medical training, Periodical flying practice and Yoga are also included as part of the training.

Astronaut Training Facility

Major milestones planned

Gaganyaan

Gaganyaan (from Sanskrit: gagana, “celestial” and yana, “craft, vehicle”) is an Indian crewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the formative spacecraft of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. The spacecraft is being designed to carry three people, and a planned upgraded version will be equipped with rendezvous and docking capabilities. In its maiden crewed mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s largely autonomous 5.3-metric ton capsule will orbit the Earth at 400 km altitude for up to seven days with a two- or three-person crew on board. The first crewed mission was originally planned to be launched on ISRO’s LVM3 rocket in December 2021. As of October 2023, it is expected to be launched by 2025.

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)-manufactured crew module underwent its first uncrewed experimental flight on December 18, 2014. As of May 2019, design of the crew module has been completed. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will provide support for critical human-centric systems and technologies such as space-grade food, crew healthcare, radiation measurement and protection, parachutes for the safe recovery of the crew module, and the fire suppression system.

On June 11, 2020, it was announced that the first uncrewed Gaganyaan launch would be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The overall timeline for crewed launches was expected to remain unaffected. ISRO chairman S. Somanath announced in 2022 that the first crewed mission would not take place until 2024 at the earliest because of safety concerns.

Background

In 1984, Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian born citizen to enter space through a joint Interkosmos mission between ISRO and Soviet space program, when he flew aboard the Soviet rocket Soyuz T-11 launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic on 3 April 1984. The Soyuz T-11 spacecraft carrying cosmonauts including Sharma docked and transferred the three member Soviet-Indian international crew, consisting of the ship’s commander, Yury Malyshev, and flight engineer, Gennadi Strekalov, to the Salyut 7 Orbital Station. Sharma spent 7 days, 21 hours, and 40 minutes aboard the Salyut 7.

Gaganyaan Program history

Preliminary studies and technological development of Gaganyaan started in 2006 under the generic name “Orbital Vehicle”. The plan was to design a simple capsule with an endurance of about a week in space, a capacity of two astronauts, and a splashdown landing after re-entry. The project was commissioned in 2007, with expected completion by 2024 and a budget of around ?10,000 crore. The design was finalized by March 2008 and submitted to the Government of India for funding. The government’s funding for the Indian Human Spaceflight Program was sanctioned in February 2009, But it fell short due to limited developmental funding. Initially, the first uncrewed flight of the orbital vehicle was proposed to be in 2013, then it was revised to 2016. 

The latest push for the Indian Human Spaceflight Program took place in 2017, And it was accepted and formally announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his 2018 Independence Day address to the nation.^[26] The current design calls for a crew of three.^[3] ISRO will perform four biological and two physical science experiments related to microgravity during the Gaganyaan mission.

As of October 2021, ISRO selected five science experiments that will be conducted on Gaganyaan. The payloads will be developed by the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad (UASD).

Funding and infrastructure

A crewed spacecraft would require about ?12,400 crore (US$1.77 billion) over a period of seven years, including the ?5,000 crore (US$0.7 billion) for the initial work of the crewed spacecraft during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007–2012) out of which the Government released ? 50 crore (US$7 million) in 2007–2008.^[31][32] In December 2018, the government approved a further ?10,000 crore (US$1.5 billion) for a 7-day crewed flight of 3 astronauts to take place by 2021.^[6]

Existing launch facilities will be upgraded for launches under the Indian Human Spaceflight project.^[34][35] With extra facilities needed for launch escape systems.^[32] Russia is likely to provide astronaut training. In Spring 2009, the full-scale mock-up of the crew capsule of Gaganyaan was built and delivered to Satish Dhawan Space Center for the training of astronauts.

India has already successfully developed and tested several building blocks, including re-entry space capsule, pad abort test, safe crew ejection mechanism in case of rocket failure, a flight suit developed by Defence Bioengineering and Electromedical Laboratory (DEBEL) and the powerful GSLV-MkIII launch vehicle. Having met all required technological keystones, the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme was accepted and formally announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, 2018. Gaganyaan will be the first crewed spacecraft under this programme.

ISRO’s Human Space Flight Centre and Glavcosmos, which is a subsidiary of the Russian state corporation Roscosmos, signed an agreement on July 1, 2019, for cooperation in the selection, support, medical examination and space training of Indian astronauts. An ISRO Technical Liaison Unit (ITLU) has been approved to be set up in Moscow for coordination. Glavkosmos has also contracted NPP Zvezda for manufacturing customized IVA flight-suits for Indian astronauts. ISRO is planning to develop a ground station for Gaganyaan mission at Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and after a brief discussion with Australian Space Agency, a temporary ground station for the mission has been set up by ISRO in Cocos (Keeling) Islands, as of 2021.

Description

Gaganyaan crew module is a fully autonomous 5.3 t (12,000 lb) spacecraft designed to carry a 3-member crew to orbit and safely return to the Earth after a mission duration of up to seven days. The crew module is equipped with two parachutes for redundancy, with one parachute enough for a safe splashdown. The parachutes would reduce the speed of the crew module from over 216 m/s (480 mph) to under 11 m/s (25 mph) at splashdown.

The space capsule will have life support and environmental control systems. It will be equipped with emergency mission abort capabilities and a Crew Escape System (CES) that can be activated during the first stage or second rocket stage burn. The nose of the original version of the orbital vehicle was free for a docking mechanism, but primary entry was evidently through a side hatch secured by explosive bolts.On December 7, 2022, The Hindu reported that the crew module had entered the production stage.

Crew module

Following fruitless attempts to obtain the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) from other countries, ISRO has declared that it will be developing it on its own for Gaganyaan mission. According to ISRO Chairman S Somanath, ISRO has no experience in producing ECLSS, but it was forced to urge national laboratories and domestic industry to begin developing the technology because there were no foreign partners available to share the technology. The first orbiter module adaptor assembly (OMA) for Gaganyaan was provided by Kineco Kaman Composites on December 23, 2023. The OMA is a conical structure with a diameter of 4 meters, composed of carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers. It is combined with the equipment bay shroud and crew escape module.

Hindustan Times reported on January 12, 2024, that in order to double-check crew safety for the first mission, Indian astronauts are expected to don Russian-made spacesuits rather than the domestically manufactured Intra Vehicular Activity (IVA) suits created by Vikram Sarabhai Space Center.^[53]

Service module

Its 2.9 t (6,400 lb)^[1] service module is powered by liquid propellant engines. The crew module is mated to the service module, and together they constitute 8.2 t (18,000 lb) orbital module.

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