Gaganyaatri will travel to International Space Station post-August: Govt

Union Space Minister Jitendra Singh informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that one Gaganyaan astronaut from ISRO will undertake space travel to the International Space Station (ISS) after August. He stated that ISRO is pursuing a joint mission with NASA to the ISS, involving this Gaganyaan astronaut.  

Union Space Minister Jitendra Singh informed Lok Sabha on Wednesday that “one Gaganyaatri from Isro will undertake space travel to the International Space Station (ISS)”. In a written reply to the Lower House on Wednesday, the minister stated that the Indian space agency is "pursuing an ISRO-NASA joint mission to the ISS, wherein one Gaganyaan astronaut from ISRO will undertake space travel to the ISS."

A joint mission to the ISS is being undertaken by ISRO, NASA, and Axiom Space, a private company collaborating with NASA. ISRO has signed a spaceflight agreement with Axiom Space for this purpose, as stated in a response to a Lok Sabha query by Trinamool Congress MLA Saugata Roy regarding the Axiom-4 Mission, astronauts, and India's Gaganyaan mission.

One of the four Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots currently training for the Gaganyaan mission will be selected as the Gaganyatri for the International Space Station (ISS) mission. These pilots were chosen by the Astronaut Selection Board, constituted by ISRO, and have already completed basic spaceflight training in Russia during the pandemic. Presently, they are undergoing further training at ISRO's Astronaut Training Facility in Bengaluru in preparation for the Gaganyaan mission, as stated by the minister.

On the Gaganyaan training, Singh said, “Two out of three semesters of the (Gaganyatri) training programme were completed. Independent training simulator and static mockup simulators (have been) realised."

Speaking about the vehicle that will carry the astronauts in space, the Union Minister said, "Solid and liquid propulsion stages of the human-rated launch vehicle are ready for flight integration. C32 cryogenic stage is nearing completion. Crew module and service module structure realisation has been completed and flight integration activities are in progress."