Only one astronaut will fly to space in Gaganyaan mission, said Dr S Somanath
New Delhi:
The Gaganyaan Mission is at a critical stage this year with three major missions scheduled for this year, ISRO Chairman Dr S Somanath told NDTV.
“This year we are at a critical juncture with Gaganyaan. We have three important missions scheduled. The first and most important is the unmanned mission to orbit, spend some time in orbit and return; the second is a test on the equipment and algorithm; the third is a test to verify the launch pad scenario,” he said.
The space agency is also planning a manned mission for which four astronauts have been nominated. Of them, only one will ultimately fly into space, said Dr Somanath, adding that the others will also be trained.
Talking about the launch date, Dr Somanath said, “The first test flight of Gaganyaan is planned for the end of next year if everything goes well. But it all depends on the progress we are going to make.”
Gaganyaan’s first manned flight may last a day in space and the astronaut will go through 16 orbits around the Earth, which would effectively test the environmental life support and control systems, says Dr Somanath.
Prashanth Nair, Angad Prathap, Ajit Krishnan and Shubhanshu Shukla are the four Indian Air Force test pilots chosen for the Gaganyaan mission. The manned spaceflight mission aims to launch a crew of up to three members into low Earth orbit and bring them back after a disappearance lasting up to a week.