Charting an Indian space odyssey

The Gaganyaan mission is ambitious and indigenous. Shine Jacob explains the nuts and bolts in its planning

On January 10, 2007, India launched an experimental space capsule that stayed in orbit for 12 days for a series of manoeuvres and was recovered when it splashed into the Bay of Bengal.

The Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE-1), which was launched using a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), was the frontrunner of what is going to be the country's first manned space mission called Gaganyaan. It was a demonstration that India had the technology to send humans to space and bring them back safely.

The Union Cabinet approved Rs 9,023-crore for the mission in December 2018, five months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about the national ambition in his Independence Day speech. India will be the fourth country, after the United States, Russia and China, to conduct a manned space mission. The names of the four astronaut candidates, Indian Air Force test pilots Prashanth Nair, Angad Prathap, Ajit Krishnan and Shubhanshu Shukla, were made public last week.

Securing the crew