ISRO to launch Gaganyaan in 2023; spacesuit to arrive from Russia soon- Jitendra Singh

New Delhi, December 09: India's maiden space mission, Gaganyaan, will be launched in 2023, Science & Technology Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh said on Thursday in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

 

 

In its reply, the minister said that India’s maiden human space mission will soar to the skies in 2023, making the country the fourth nation in the world to launch a human spaceflight mission after the US, Russia, and China.

 

Meanwhile, the test vehicle flight for the validation of Crew Escape System performance and the first uncrewed mission of Gaganyaan are scheduled at the beginning of the second half of 2022.

 

"This will be followed by the second uncrewed mission at the end of 2022 carrying “Vyommitra” a spacefaring human-robot developed by Isro and finally the first crewed Gaganyaanmission in 2023," he said.

 

Noting the impact of successive lockdowns on the work around the mission, the minister said that the program got slightly delayed due to Covid restrictions, but preparations are now in full swing to achieve the mission by 2023. He said that the objective of the Gaganyaan programme is to demonstrate the capability to send humans to low earth orbit (LEO) onboard an Indian launch vehicle and bring them back to earth safely.

 

 

 

The spacesuits, crew seats, and viewports will soon be delivered from Russia as activities related to the development of microgravity experiments have commenced.

 

"More than 500 industries are involved in the launch of Gaganyaan with several research modules including an indigenous health research module. This was made possible as for the first time in 70 years, the sector has been unlocked for private participation to make India a competitive space market," the minister told the Rajya Sabha.

 

All system designs for the Ganganyaan mission have been completed and the realisation of various systems are in different stages of progress. The minister said that the ground qualification tests of launch vehicle propulsion stages have been already commenced and successfully progressing.

 

"The configuration and design of ground infrastructure has been completed and modifications needed are being implemented. The MoU, contracts and Implementation arrangement (IA) related activities with both national and international agencies are progressing well," the minister added.

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