 Rendering of Gaganyaan crewed spacecraft | |
| Names |
|
|---|---|
| Mission type | Crewedflight test |
| Operator | ISRO |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Gaganyaan |
| Manufacturer | Hindustan Aeronautics Limited |
| Crew | |
| Members | |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | Q1 2027 (Planned)[2] |
| Rocket | HLVM3 |
| Launch site | Satish Dhawan Space Centre |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
 | |
Gaganyaan-4 (fromSanskrit:gagana, "celestial" andyāna, "craft, vehicle") also named asH1 will be the first crewed test flight of theGaganyaan programme, with launch planned for 2027.
The mission is planned to demonstrate human spaceflight capability by sending a crew to an orbit of 400 km of altitude[3][4][5] for 7 days.[6] Reporting in January 2020 for theHindustan Times,[7] Anonna Dutt quotesK. Sivan, then chairman of ISRO, as saying,
We are designing the mission for three people to go to low earth orbit for seven days. However, whether we send two people or one person and whether they spend seven days in the orbit or one will be decided [after the] unmanned flights.
In October 2023, it was announced that the first crewed flight would take place after three uncrewed missions of thehuman-rated HLVM3.[8] The launch is planned for 2027[9] with the capsule coming down in the Indian Ocean.[10]
TheIndian Human Spaceflight Programme (or the Gaganyaan programme) is an ongoing project byISRO to develop the technology needed to launchcrewed spacecraft intolow Earth orbit.[11]
Before theGaganyaan programme announcement in August 2018, human spaceflight was not a priority for ISRO, though related technologies have been developed since 2007,[12] and it performed aCrew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment[13] and aPad Abort Test for the programme.[14][15] In December 2018, theIndian government approved a further₹100 billion (US$1.5 billion) for a 7-day crewed flight of 2–3 astronauts.[16][17][18][19] Threeuncrewed flights, namedGaganyaan-1,Gaganyaan-2 andGaganyaan-3 are scheduled to launch in the 2020s, followed by a crewed flight on anHLVM3 rocket.[20][21][22] To date, mission has been postponed several times until all certification requirements are completed.[23][24][25]
If completed successfully, India will become thefourth nation to conduct independent human spaceflight after theSoviet Union (Russia), United States, and China. After conducting the first crewed spaceflights, the agency intends to start aspace station programme, crewedlunar landings, and crewedinterplanetary missions in the long term.[26][27]
The Gaganyan programme astronauts,Prasanth Nair,Angad Pratap,Ajit Krishnan andShubhanshu Shukla, were announced on 27 February 2024.[28] Those selected for the first spaceflight will be from this pool of qualified astronauts, and one of them,Shubhanshu Shukla flew to the ISS in 2025 onAxiom Mission 4 withPrasanth Nair as his backup.[29] It is considered that one or two crewmembers will take part of this mission, with one being Shukla due to his flight experience.[5][30]
| Position[31] | Astronaut | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander |  Shubhanshu Shukla,ISROSecond spaceflight | |
| Pilot (Unconfirmed) | TBA,ISRO First spaceflight | |
Gaganyaan (Sanskrit:[ɡəɡənəjɑːnə],pronunciationⓘ, fromSanskrit:gagana, "celestial" andyāna, "craft, vehicle") is an Indiancrewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the formative spacecraft of theIndian Human Spaceflight Programme. Thespacecraft is being designed to carry three people to low Earth orbit, and a planned upgraded version will be equipped with rendezvous and docking capabilities.
The Launch Vehicle Mark-3 orLVM3[32][33][34] (previously referred as the GSLV Mk III)[a] is athree-stagemedium-lift launch vehicle developed by theIndian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).[32] Primarily designed to launch communication satellites intogeostationary orbit,[36] it is also due to launch crewed missions under theIndian Human Spaceflight Programme.[37] LVM3 has a higher payload capacity than its predecessor,GSLV.[38][39][40][41]
ISRO, the Department of Space and the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe), together withVoyager Space, agreed to a memorandum of understanding to explore the use of Gaganyaan for crew transportation to Voyager's plannedStarlab space station.[42]
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