Gaganyaan Astronaut Will Be Sent To ISS On NASA Joint Mission: Jitendra Singh

Union Minister Jitendra Singh told the Lok Sabha that one of the four astronauts being trained for the Gaganyaan mission will go to the International Space Station as part of a joint effort with NASA.

The Minister said that India’s Astronaut Selection Board has selected four astronauts from a pool of test pilots from the Indian Air Force for the Gaganyaan mission, which will be India’s first manned space flight next year. “Four astronauts were trained on the spaceflight basic module in Russia. Currently, the astronauts are undergoing training at ISRO’s Astronauts Training Facility (ATF) in Bengaluru for the Gaganyaan mission,” he said.

Sharing an update on the Gaganyaan mission, the minister said ground testing of the propulsion system phases, including solid, liquid, and cryogenic engines, towards human rating of the launch vehicle has been completed.

The Minister said that the static testing of all five types of solid motors has also been completed. Also, the first test vehicle mission (TV-D1) for performance validation of crew escape systems and parachute deployment was successfully achieved, he added.

Jitendra Singh said key ground facilities like the Orbital Module Preparation Facility (OMPF), Astronaut Training Facility (ATF), and Oxygen Testing Facility have been commissioned, and Mission Control Center (MCC) facilities and the establishment of ground station networks are nearing completion.

The crew module and service module structure realization has been completed, and flight integration activities work in progress, he added.