On April 14, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised the world by announcing Mission Gaganyaan as a part of the BJP’s poll manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The vision document christened Sankalp Patra also mentions the prospects of setting up an Indian space station (Bharatiya Antariksha Station) and landing vyomanauts (Indian astronauts) on the moon. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has set an ambitious goal to send three Indian vyomanauts into space, onboard an indigenously-developed spacecraft launched into orbit by using an Indian rocket lifting off from an Indian spaceport. If successful, the mission codenamed- ‘Gaganyaan-1’, is supposed to place India in the elite league of three other superpower nations- the United States of America, Russia and China- which have developed such technological capabilities for launching such highly complex missions. While the years- 2021, 2022 and 2023 were dampeners with reference to the Covid-19 pandemic affecting ongoing preparations for the Gaganyaan mission, the new year- 2024 has brought new rays of hope with ISRO scientists and engineers having a serious relook at the delays caused in the human spaceflight programme.
The Union Minister of Science & Technology- Dr Jitendra Singh has recently said that India's maiden human spaceflight- Gaganyaan, is targeted to be launched in the second quarter of 2025.
A path towards heavy-lift capability
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