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The country’s science and technology minister stated on Tuesday that India’s space agency will conduct the first of several test flights on October 21 ahead of its planned ‘Gaganyaan’ mission.
According to Union Minister Jeetendra Singh, the test vehicle development flight, which will include the crew module designed to house Indian astronauts during Gaganyaan, will take place at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is also ready to put the crew escape system, which is an essential component of the planned mission, to the test.
The module will be launched into orbit, returned to Earth, and recovered after landing in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean’s northeastern region. The Indian Navy has already begun mock drills to prepare for the module’s recovery, Singh said at a ceremony to honour scientists who worked on the historic Chandrayaan-3 project.
According to an Indian government release, the Gaganyaan project, which is set to launch Indian astronauts into space late next year, “envisages [the] demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching a human crew to an orbit of 400km and safely bringing them back to Earth, by landing in Indian sea waters.” The spacecraft can accommodate three people. The first crewed mission was originally planned for December 2021, but was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and safety concerns.
The tests will pave the way for the first unmanned ‘Gaganyaan’ mission and, eventually, a manned expedition to low Earth orbit,” Singh added. He also stated that, prior to the manned mission, a test flight to space will be conducted next year, carrying a female-looking humanoid robot made by the ISRO dubbed Vyommitra.
According to a government press release, preparations for Gaganyaan have included the development of numerous critical technologies such as the launch vehicle that will safely transport the crew to space, life support systems that will provide astronauts with an Earth-like environment, emergency escape provisions, and “evolving crew management aspects for training, recovery, and rehabilitation.”
Following the successful launch of Indian missions to the Moon and the Sun in rapid succession, Singh declared, “India’s ambitious space exploration programme has left a clear message that we are one of the most scientifically advanced nations in the field of space science and technology.”
In a historic first, India’s Chandrayaan-3 arrived on the Moon’s South Pole in August. Ten days after the successful Moon mission of Chandrayaan-3, India launched Aditya-L1, the country’s first mission dedicated to Sun observation.
