Sunday Tribune

India prepares for space mission

INDIA’S maiden human space-flight mission, Gaganyaan, is expected to be launched in 2024.

The mission was scheduled for 2022 but that could not be achieved due to Covid-19.

“The Covid-19 pandemic took a toll on the training of astronauts in Russia as well as India,” said Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology.

The first test flight will be followed by sending a female-looking humanoid robot, Vyommitra, in outer space likely next year.

The Indian Air Force had identified four fighter pilots as the potential crew for the human space flight mission. The potential crew had undergone basic training in Russia.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will send at least two astronauts into a low earth orbit (Leo) in 2024 after assessing the outcome of the two orbital test flights.

According to Isro, the Gaganyaan programme envisages undertaking the demonstration of human space flight to Leo in the short-term and will lay the foundation for a sustained Indian human space exploration programme in the long run.

The objective of this space programme is to demonstrate indigenous capability to undertake human space flight mission to Leo.

The programme will strengthen international partnerships and global security through the sharing of challenging and peaceful goals. Having a vibrant human space flight programme can be leveraged as a potent foreign policy tool.

According to Isro, the uncrewed missions are for technology demonstration, safety and reliability verification and will be instrumented to study the performance of systems before the crewed flight.

Officials said in the test mission, the spacecraft would be launched to an altitude of 15km during which space scientists would simulate an abort scenario to ensure the return crew capsule to the Earth using parachutes.

The second test flight will take the Gaganyaan crew capsule to a higher altitude.

For the first crewed mission of Gaganyaan programme, astronaut trainees are selected from pool of test pilots, based on selection criterion defined by Isro and the Indian Air Force.

The Isro also plans to launch the Chandrayaan-3 mission to the moon next year. |

HERALD

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2022-09-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-09-18T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://sundaytribune.pressreader.com/article/281736978307100

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