India’s first manned space mission by end of 2024 or early 2025: ISRO top official

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After a string of delays, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is looking to demonstrate the capabilities of its Gaganyaan mission by end of 2023, and then go ahead with India’s first manned space mission by either the end of 2024 or early 2025, R Umamaheshwaran, director of ISRO’s Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) said on Thursday, October 27.

Umamaheshwaran, who was speaking on the second day of the India Space Congress in New Delhi, explained that the proposed manned space flight will travel a distance of 400 km from Earth and will last two to three days.

Four candidates have been shortlisted, who have already completed their initial training and are currently undergoing further training at the Astronaut Training Facility in Bengaluru, Umamaheshwaran said.

“Four are being trained. We are mostly going for Air Force test pilots. They are much more tuned to harsh environments and they are trained to react,” Umamaheshwaran told reporters on the sidelines of the event.

The HSFC director said that the launch vehicle that will take the astronauts to the 400-km mark is almost ready, and that all tests have been completed.

“In regards to the crew module, where the humans are supposed to sit and fly, designs have been completed. And it is currently in the application stage. In three to six months it will be ready,” he said.

Right now, the HSFC is working on the environmental control system, which will provide ambient conditions for astronauts to survive.

“We have decided that we will do that on our own. This design is in the final stage. We need to test and demonstrate that everything is safe. The crew has to be safe. That is paramount,” he said.

Before the unmanned test flight is taken up at end of 2023, around 16-17 tests have to be conducted, Umamaheshwaran added. One of these tests will examine how the escape system of the launch vehicle works.

“A test vehicle, which is the modified liquid stage of GSLV, will go up to 15-20 km altitude. Then at different altitude levels, we will create failure and test whether the crew escape system works,” he added.

Conceived in 2007, the Gaganyaan mission has been delayed due to several reasons, ranging from the technological -- such as working on crew escape system technologies -- to setbacks arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Umamaheshwaran also said that discussions were underway to launch the Indian Space Station by 2030-35. For facilitating that launch, ISRO is currently working on a new launch vehicle called NGLV or Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV), which he expects to be ready by 2030.