The story so far: On February 27, Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicised the final shortlist of candidates to be astronauts on board the maiden human spaceflight mission — called Gaganyaan — of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Assuming two important test flights this year and the next are successful, the first crewed flight of the mission is scheduled for 2025.
What is Gaganyaan?
Gaganyaan is the name of the ISRO mission to send Indian astronauts to low-earth orbit for a short duration, onboard an Indian launch vehicle. Technically, it is a demonstration mission: it will test various technologies required for human spaceflight, which remains the most complicated form of spaceflight, and demonstrate India’s familiarity with their production, qualification, and use. Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi “directed” ISRO to have an indigenous space station by 2035 and land an Indian on the moon by 2040. While its most recent missions have reinforced ISRO’s reputation as a reliable launch provider also capable of flying sophisticated interplanetary missions, including Chandrayaan-3, the two new goals are technologically even more ambitious.
