Isro’s Gaganyaan trials to commence by end-2025

New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) is set to launch the first trial mission of Gaganyaan—India's effort to put a human in space and on the moon—by the end of 2025, government officials said at a press briefing on Tuesday. The announcement came after the trial missions were initially targeted for the end of 2024 and subsequently March this year.

Speaking with the media, Isro chairman V. Narayanan said three uncrewed space missions will take place between October this year and December 2026—following which two manned trial missions will take place before the first Indian astronaut takes off for an orbital space flight in 2027. The successful completion of the mission will make India the fourth country in the world to launch humans into space independently.

Gaganyaan was announced in 2018, and its unmanned trials were expected to begin by 2022. Delays in the space industry, however, are expected and are a part of how space agencies seek to prepare for reducing redundant costs and preparing safety measures.

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Group captains Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Ajit Krishnan and Angad Pratap, and wing commander Shubanshu Shukla have already been selected as the astronauts who will be part of Isro’s first human space flight mission.

Ahead of the Gaganyaan launch, an Indian astronaut is also set to be part of the crew that will head to the International Space Station (ISS) in June this year. This will help familiarize the Indian space traveller with the space travel environment and “also conduct space experiments,” said Isro’s Narayanan.

“A lot of progress has been made on the mission. The ground infrastructure is getting ready, and the training of astronauts is in the final stages,” he added.

Gaganyaan mission update

Offering a complete update on the much-awaited mission, Narayanan said that about 95% of the human rating of propulsion systems and 90% of the development of environmental control and life support systems have been completed. Isro is also testing the escape module, which will be used to evacuate the astronauts in case of an emergency during the space flight.

The space mission will further cement India’s position as one of the top space superpowers, alongside the US, Russia and China. Human spaceflight capabilities, along with a suborbital space station and military capabilities in space, are seen as the next frontier of geopolitical influence in Earth’s orbit.

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As part of the Gaganyaan mission, Isro will launch the astronauts in a rocket earmarked for the mission—Human Launch Vehicle Mark-III (HLVM3)—to low-earth orbit and facilitate their landing in the ocean in a module as part of the mission. Vyommitra, a humanoid robot developed by Isro, may be part of the uncrewed missions that will be launched starting later this year.

Jitendra Singh, minister of state for space, added that Gaganyaan's current mission cost remains under ₹10,000 crore (about $1.2 billion).

India also remains on track to establish its own space station by 2035, becoming only the second nation, alongside China, to have a sovereign space station in orbit within the next decade. The ISS, to be sure, is set to be decommissioned by 2030.

Industry stakeholders continue to see Isro’s key role as a pioneering research organization. Pawan Goenka, chairman of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (In-Space), told Mint on Monday that Isro’s Gaganyaan missions remain on course as a Centre-funded research mission, and “will be at the forefront of India’s pitch for showcasing itself as a premier spacefaring nation in the world.”

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