The Indian Space Research Organisation will carry out the second test flight of uncrewed Gaganyaan mission today, April 24, embarking on achieving yet another significant milestone in the space, said ISRO Chairman S Somanath on the sidelines of an event organized by the Astronautical Society of India (ASI) in Ahmedabad.
“The airdrop test will happen on April 24. Then two more uncrewed missions will happen next year and then the manned mission, if everything goes well, by the end of next year,” Somanath had said on April 17.
The Gaganyaan project will demonstrate the capability of human spaceflight by sending a three-person crew into a 400-kilometer orbit for a three-day trip, and then safely returning them to Earth by landing in Indian ocean seas.
Isro’s human spaceflight program is expected to put India on the global map of human space-faring nations. Upon successful completion, India will join the US, Russia and China as nations that have active human spaceflight programs.
Unmanned trials for Gaganyaan are expected to commence later this year. By March next year, ISRO is expected to complete seven trial launches under Gaganyaan.
India’s manned space mission is being handled purely by ISRO, which is working with partner vendors for a fully indigenous technology stack for Gaganyaan’s space infrastructure.
This marks a key differentiating factor between India and the US, which contracts private firms such as SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin for a wide range of commercial as well as human spaceflight projects.
India, in terms of the global space ecosystem, also joined the US, Russia (through the erstwhile Soviet Union) and China to become only the fourth nation to successfully land a rover on the moon, with the Chandrayaan-3 mission on 23 August last year.
Isro’s Chandrayaan missions have so far made key observations that have quantified research into the presence of water on the lunar surface. Through Gaganyaan, India is expected to increase its stature in applied research projects in space.
(With PTI inputs)
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Published: 24 Apr 2024, 08:22 AM IST