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.
In its maiden crewed mission,ISRO's largely autonomous 5.3-metric tonne capsule will orbit the Earth at 400 km altitude for up to seven days with a two- or three-person crew on board. The first crewed mission was originally planned to be launched on ISRO's human-ratedLVM3 rocket (HLVM3) in December 2021. As of November 2024, it is expected to be launched no earlier than 2027.
John Watts Young (September 24, 1930 – January 5, 2018) was an American
astronaut,
naval officer and
aviator,
test pilot, and
aeronautical engineer. He became the
ninth person to walk on the Moon as Commander of the
Apollo 16 mission in 1972. Young enjoyed the longest career of any astronaut, becoming the first person to fly six space missions over the course of 42 years of active
NASA service. He is the only person to have piloted and commanded four different classes of spacecraft:
Gemini, the
Apollo command and service module, the
Apollo Lunar Module, and the
Space Shuttle.
Before becoming an astronaut, Young received hisBachelor of Science degree with highest honors inAeronautical Engineering from theGeorgia Institute of Technology and joined the U.S. Navy. After serving at sea during theKorean War he became a naval aviator, and graduated from theU.S. Naval Test Pilot School (Class 23), setting several world time-to-climb records as a test pilot. Young left the Navy in 1976 with the rank of captain.
In 1965 Young flew on thefirst crewed Gemini mission, and then commanded the 1966Gemini 10 mission. In 1969 duringApollo 10, he became the first person to fly solo around the Moon. He then walked on the Moon and drove theLunar Roving Vehicle on the Moon's surface duringApollo 16, and is one of only three people to haveflown to the Moon twice.
Young also commanded two flights ofSpace ShuttleColumbia:STS-1 in 1981, theSpace Shuttle program's first launch, andSTS-9 in 1983. Young served asChief of the Astronaut Office from 1974 to 1987, and retired from NASA in 2004.
