After the success of the country’s lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, in July of this year, India joined a select group of countries that have traveled to the Moon. What set India apart was the area its spacecraft managed to land in — the Moon’s south pole, which had never been explored before — and the low cost with which the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) worked, which was nearly half the total production cost of the acclaimed Hollywood movie Interstellar.

Sreedhara Somanath, the head of ISRO, has now announced India’s future intentions for its space program. As per the ISRO Chairman, the nation is now training four pilots from the Indian Air Force, who will form a part of India’s inaugural manned mission, ‘Gaganyaan’.

The 60-year-old revealed in an exclusive story for Manorama Yearbook 2024 that the four IAF men are being trained at the Astronaut Training Facility in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

“ISRO is planning to launch a crew of two to three Indian astronauts into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for up to three days before safely returning them to a predefined site in Indian waters,” according to extracts from the report.

Gaganyaan will need the development of several crucial technologies. These comprise a human-rated launch vehicle (LVM3), an Orbital Module consisting of a Crew Module (CM) and Service Module (SM), and life support systems.

Somanath further stated that the manned mission will be preceded by two identical uncrewed missions (G1 & G2), as well as Integrated Air Drop Test, Pad Abort Test, and Test Vehicle flights.

Meanwhile, ISRO intends to send Indian astronauts to the Moon for the first time by 2040. “Somanath also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set ambitious goals such as commissioning ‘Bharatiya Antariksha Station’ (Indian Space Station) by 2035, and embarking on interplanetary exploration, featuring a Venus Orbiter Mission and a Mars Lander, to further solidify India’s presence on the global space stage,” according to the report.

India will develop life support system on its own

Somanath stated on Wednesday (December 13, 2023) that India will create the environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) for Gaganyaan on its own. According to sources, the decision was made after the country was unable to obtain it from other countries.

While the ISRO head described other countries’ refusal to share expertise as sad, he stated that India will create the ECLSS utilizing its existing knowledge and industry.

He also stated that ISRO has to improve its ability and confidence before sending humans through the Gaganyaan program.

He also addressed the potential of mission failure and stated that the lives of those participating in the mission should not be risked. Gaganyaan is set to be launched in the first quarter of 2024.

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