ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan held a press conference on the latest news about the Gaganyaan program held at the National Media Centre in New Delhi on May 6, 2025. Image source: ANI
The launch of India's first human space flight (Gaganyaan) has been pushed into the first quarter of 2027, nearly five years behind the original schedule as it participated in such complex projects along with Ace Technologies.
V. Narayanan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), said in a press conference that the first unplanned mission of the Gaganyaan project is expected to be launched later this year, followed by two similar missions in 2026.
“The first crew missions are targeted at the first quarter of 2027,” Narayanan said, adding that ISRO will send a semi-human robot – Vyommitra, as part of the undelayed mission, and then send astronauts to the lower annual orbit.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Gaganyaan project during his Independence Day speech in 2018 and set a goal for 2022 to achieve India's first artificial space flight.
The project was caught in several delays, partly because the 199th pandemic affected the complexity of the training of astronauts and the mastery of the important techniques required for missions.
The crew mission is expected to be held in 2025 and later inserted in 2026. It has now been postponed to the first quarter of 2027.
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In addition to developing the man-level launch vehicle of Gaganyan Mission, ISRO scientists built the mission Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) from scratch, which would involve bringing astronauts to 400 kilometers of low-Earth orbit on Earth and returning it safely.
ECLSS will help maintain cabin pressure, humidity, temperature, air quality and personal hygiene management systems in the spacecraft during the mission.
“It's a very complex process. We've done this development for the first time. I would say that 90% of the work has been done and we're in the final stage of qualifying.”
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If successful, India will become the fourth country after Russia, the United States and China independently launch humans into space.
Mr Narayanan said the space docking experiment included two satellites launched by the PSLV rocket in December and ISRO is planning the Spadex-2.
He said a proposal made on this would be submitted to the government soon.
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He said that the use of fuel was wise to allow ISRO to conduct more experiments in orbit, including orbiting one satellite around another in March.
Scientists also exhibit open and closed loop activity experiments that are considered fundamental techniques for satellite internal services that extend mission life.
Mr Narayanan said that ISRO, together with the International Astronautics Federation, the Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX 2025), hosted by May 7-9, positioning India as a partner in space exploration.
publishing – May 6, 2025 at 05:55 pm ist
