- By Kamal Kumar
- Sat, 27 Jul 2024 05:54 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Indian Astronaut Gaganyaan: In a major development for India's space program, one Indian astronaut, currently under training for the ambitious Gaganyaan project, will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of a joint ISRO-NASA collaboration, Union Minister Jitendra Singh has told the Lok Sabha on Saturday. As of now, four Indian astronauts are undergoing training for the country's first manned space mission Gaganyaan, which is slated to be launched soon.
Responding in writing to the lower house, the minister said that the Indian astronaut will go to the ISS aboard a joint mission of NASA, ISRO and Axiom Space, a private entity identified by the US's space agency. He further said that ISRO had signed a Space Flight Agreement with the American firm for the joint mission.
The announcement followed a US visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2023. During the visit, President Joe Biden announced that the US and India were collaborating on sending an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station in 2024.
Earlier, the National Crew Selection Board had selected four Indian Air Force personnel from a group of test pilots for the Gaganyaan mission.
"All four astronauts have undergone training on a spaceflight basic module in Russia. Currently, astronauts are undergoing training at ISRO's Astronauts Training Facility (ATF) in Bengaluru for the Gaganyaan Mission," Singh said.
The minister announced that two out of three semesters of the Gaganyatri training program have been completed, with independent training simulators and static mockup simulators already realized. Providing an update on the Gaganyaan mission, Singh stated that ground testing of propulsion system stages, including solid, liquid, and cryogenic engines, has been completed for human rating of the launch vehicle. Additionally, the design and realization of five types of crew escape system solid motors have been accomplished.