• Source:ANI
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Gaganyaan Mission Crew Members: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his visit to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram, revealed the identities of the four astronauts who have been selected for the Gaganyaan, the country's first-ever human space travel mission. The four astronauts who have been named for this historic mission are Group Captain Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap, and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla, all members of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair

Group Captain Prashanth Nair was born in Thiruvazhiyad, Kerala on 26 August 1976. He is an alumnus of NDA and recipient of the Sword of Honour at the Air Force Academy. On 19 December 1998, he was commissioned into the fighter stream of the IAF. He is a Cat A Flying Instructor and a Test Pilot with approx 3000 hours of flying experience. He has flown a variety of aircraft including Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Hawk, Dornier, An-32, etc. He is also an alumnus of the United States Staff College and a DS at DSSC, Wellington and FIS, Tambaram. He has commanded a premier fighter Su-30 Sqn.

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Following the announcement by PM Modi of his selection as one of the nation's group captains for the Gaganyaan Mission, the crowds gathered outside of Nair's home and began to celebrate with fireworks and sloganeering. The 47 year-old Nair finished his education in Kuwait, the country where his father worked. Nair enrolled at the Palakkad Chinmaya Mission School once they returned to India.

Ajit Krishnan

Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, who was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on 19 April 1982, is among the four astronauts who were selected for the mission. He is an alumnus of NDA and recipient of President’s Gold Medal and Sword of Honour at the Air Force Academy. He was commissioned on 21 Jun 2003 in the fighter stream of IAF. He is a Flying Instructor and a Test Pilot with approx 2900 hours of flying experience. Captain Krishnan has flown a variety of aircraft including Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-21, Mig-29, Jaguar, Dornier, An-32 etc. He is also an alumnus of DSSC, Wellington.

Angad Pratap

According to the ISRO, Group Captain Angad Prathap, who was born in Prayagraj on 17 July 1982, has trained along with the other three members of the group in Russia for 13 months. He is an alumnus of NDA and was commissioned on 18 December 2004 in the fighter stream of IAF. He is a Flying Instructor and a Test Pilot with approx 2000 hours of flying experience. He has also flown a variety of aircraft including Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier, An-32 etc.

Shubhanshu Shukla

Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla, one of the four astronauts of the Gaganyaan mission, is also an alumnus of NDA and was commissioned in the fighter stream of IAF on 17 June 2006. He was born in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh on 10 October 1985. He is a Fighter Combat Leader and a Test Pilot with approx 2000 hours of flying experience. He has flown a variety of aircraft including Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier, An-32 etc.

What Is Gaganyaan Mission

The Gaganyaan programme aims to demonstrate human spaceflight to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in the future and will eventually create the groundwork for an ongoing Indian space exploration mission. The objective of the Gaganyaan mission is to demonstrate an indigenous capability to undertake a human space flight mission to LEO.