PM Modi Reveals Names Of Gaganyaan Astronauts

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Tuesday the names of the four astronauts who are undergoing training for the country's maiden human space flight mission, Gaganyaan.

The four astronauts are - Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, Angad Prathap, Ajit Krishnan, and Shubhanshu Shukla, PM Modi said at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) at Thumba near the Kerala state capital.

The PM was at the VSSC to inaugurate three major technical facilities of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Speaking at the event, the Prime Minister said, "The country has come to know about the four Gaganyaan passengers. These are not just four names or four people. These are four powers who will take the aspirations of 140 crore Indians to space," the Prime Minister said.

"Forty years later, an Indian is going to space. But this time, the time, the countdown and the rocket belong to us," he added. Earlier, Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma (retired) went to the space in 1984 as part of a Soviet mission.

India's first manned space mission the Gaganyaan mission is slated for launch between in 2025. The ambitious project aims to send humans into a 400 km orbit for a three-day mission, with a safe return to Earth anticipated through a landing in Indian sea waters.

"ISRO has accomplished a major milestone in the human rating of its CE20 cryogenic engine that powers the cryogenic stage of the human-rated LVM3 launch vehicle for Gaganyaan missions, with the completion of the final round of ground qualification tests on February 13, 2024. The final test was the seventh of a series of vacuum ignition tests carried out at the High Altitude Test Facility at ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri, to simulate the flight conditions," the ISRO said in a statement.