ISRO on the verge of launching first Indian to space

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is on track to send human to space in its ‘Gaganyaan Mission’.  the space agency said Tuesday. “The total programme cost is expected to be less than Rs 10,000 crores. Two unmanned Gaganyaan missions will be undertaken prior to sending humans to space,” ISRO chief K Sivan said today.

The GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle, which has the necessary payload capability for the mission, will be used. “The total programme is expected to be completed by 2022 with the first unmanned flight within 30 months. The mission will aim to send a three-person crew to space for a period of seven days where they will do microgravity experiments,” he said.

The spacecraft will be placed in a low earth orbit of 300-400 km. The programme will make India the fourth nation in the world to launch a human spaceflight mission after USA, Russia, and China,” said Minister of State Jitendra Singh who is in-charge of the Department of Space.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech announced the ‘Gaganyaan Mission’ of India’s maiden human spaceflight programme. “A son or a daughter of India will go to space from Indian soil by an Indian vehicle by 2022 or sooner in time to mark India’s 75th year of Independence,” Modi said during his speech.

The dimensions of the crew module that will transport the astronauts will be 7 metres in height and the mass will be 7 tonnes. “The astronauts can be anybody. We will have a preference for pilots but the selection and training process will be done by the Indian Air Force and the ISRO,” he said. The mission upon return will land in the Arabian Sea close to Gujarat coast,” Sivan said.