Gaganyaan Crew Revealed: All You Need To Know India's Gaganyaan Mission

Astronauts' wings were conferred by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, revealing the Gaganyaan Mission astronauts to the world, on Monday. The four Indian Air Force Officers will be the first Indians to go to space from Indian soil on an indigenous space vehicle.

The four astronauts, namely Group Captain Prashanth Balakrishnan, Group Captain Ajith Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap, and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla, have undergone extensive training in Russia, and the program is now underway in India at the Isro training facility, reported India Today.

India's Gaganyaan Mission: All You Need To Know

• The Gaganyaan project aims to demonstrate human spaceflight capability by launching a crew of three members to an orbit of 400 km for a 3-day mission, returning safely to Earth by landing in Indian sea waters, according to the ISRO's official website.
• The project utilizes an optimal strategy involving in-house expertise, Indian industry experience, intellectual capabilities of academia, and cutting-edge technologies from international agencies.
• Prerequisites for the mission include developing critical technologies such as a human-rated launch vehicle, Life Support System, crew emergency escape provision, and crew management aspects for training and recovery.
• Various precursor missions like Integrated AirDrop Test (IADT), Pad Abort Test (PAT), and Test Vehicle (TV) flights are planned to demonstrate Technology Preparedness Levels.
• The Human-rated LVM3 (HLVM3), a reliable heavy-lift launcher of ISRO, has been identified for the mission, reconfigured to meet human rating requirements.
• HLVM3 includes a Crew Escape System (CES) to ensure crew safety during emergencies.
• The Orbital Module (OM) comprises the Crew Module (CM) and the Service Module (SM), equipped with state-of-the-art avionics systems ensuring human safety.
• CM provides a habitable space with an Earth-like environment, designed for re-entry to ensure crew safety during descent.
• SM provides support to CM while in orbit, containing essential systems such as thermal, propulsion, power, avionics, and deployment mechanisms.
• Various new technologies, including Engineering systems and Human-centric systems, are being developed to ensure human safety.
• The Astronaut Training Facility in Bengaluru offers comprehensive training covering academic courses, Gaganyaan Flight Systems, Micro-gravity familiarization, Aero-medical training, Recovery & Survival training, Flight Procedures mastery, and Crew Training Simulators.