Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 27 revealed the names of the four astronauts selected to be a part of India's crewed space flight mission Gaganyaan.
Modi, who arrived at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram in the morning, bestowed "astronaut wings" to Group Captains Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Ajit Krishnan and Angad Pratap and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla.
"I am happy that today I got the opportunity to meet these astronauts and present them in front of the country. I want to congratulate them on behalf of the entire country...You are the pride of today's India," Modi said.
The astronaut-designates are four forces that encompass the aspirations of 1.40 billion people, Modi said, as he reviewed the progress of Gaganyaan mission.
The Gaganyaan mission is India’s first human space flight programme for which extensive preparations are underway at various India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) centres.
According to ISRO, Gaganyaan project envisages demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching crew of three members to an orbit of 400 km for a three days mission and bring them back safely to earth, by landing in Indian sea waters.
The pre-requisites for Gaganyaan mission include development of many critical technologies including human rated launch vehicle for carrying crew safely to space, life support system to provide an earth like environment to crew in space, crew emergency escape provision and evolving crew management aspects for training, recovery and rehabilitation of crew. The mission is set for a late 2025 launch.
The PM was also at the VSSC to inaugurate three major technical facilities of ISRO.
The projects are the PSLV Integration Facility (PIF) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, a new ‘Semi-cryogenics Integrated Engine and stage Test facility’ at ISRO Propulsion Complex at Mahendragiri and ‘Trisonic Wind Tunnel’ at VSSC in Thiruvananthapuram.
These three projects, which provide technical facilities for the space sector, have been developed at a cumulative cost of about Rs 1,800 crore, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.
India's success in the space sector is sowing the seeds of scientific temperament in the country's young generation, said PM Modi in Kerala.
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