Robots and humans are gearing up to explore space with ISRO's Gaganyaan

• India's maiden human space-flight mission 'Gaganyaan' is likely to be launched in 2024.
• The first trial will be unmanned, and the second trial will include a female robot named ‘Vyommitra’.
• India has also planned a new moon mission, Chandrayaan-3 and a mission to Venus, Shukrayaan.

In December 2021, the Union Minister for State in the Department of Space, Jitendra Singh, said in Rajya Sabha that India would become the fourth nation in the world to launch a human spaceflight mission after Russia, China, and the USA.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had planned the human space flight for 2021 but it got delayed due to the COVID- 19 pandemic, said Jitendra Singh.

After a lot of back and forth about the launch dates and trial, the mission has finally seen the light of the day. Now, the ‘Gaganyaan’ is likely to be launched in 2024 and the development is confirmed by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh.

As per the minister, the mission was delayed as the astronauts could not be trained in Russia after the outbreak of the pandemic.

According to ISRO, the Gaganyaan programme will lay the foundation for a sustained Indian human space exploration programme in the long run. Also, the objective of this mission is to demonstrate the indigenous capability to undertake human space flight. Other than these, Gaganyaan will have both tangible and intangible benefits for India, including a step toward an affordable and sustained human and robotic programme to explore space and beyond. The mission will also generate ample scope for employment opportunities in advanced science and R&D activities.

The mission will also carry out scientific research and experiments in the interest of the nation.

Trials to end by 2022

Under the Gaganyaan mission, ISRO may complete the first two trials of its human space mission by the end of 2022, said Union Minister of State for Space Jitendra Singh. The first trial will be unmanned and the second trial will include a female robot named ‘Vyommitra’. The robot Vyommitra has been developed by the ISRO and only after this mission is successful, humans will be sent to space.

What is the Gaganyaan mission?

According to ISRO, the total cost of the Gaganyaan mission will be ₹9023.00 crores and if India succeeds, it will become the fourth country to have sent a human to space, following the US, Russia, and China.

For the mission, ISRO will be using a GSLV Mk-III rocket along with two HS200 boosters which will supply the thrust for lift-off. The design and development of the HS200 booster is completed at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram, and propellant casting was completed at Sriharikota.

This human space flight is expected to take about 16 minutes to reach the intended orbit. The space suits are created by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.

For the training of astronauts, ISRO and Russian government-owned Glavkosmos signed a contract for training.

Further, there are some major collaborating partners for Gaganyaan like Indian Armed Forces, Defence Research Development organisation, Indian maritime agencies, Indian Meteorological Department, CSIR Labs, and more.

India has also planned a new moon mission named Chandrayaan-3 and a mission to Venus, called Shukrayaan.

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