After all, why is India’s Gaganyaan mission getting delayed? ISRO is giving more focus on safety and training of astronauts.
science news desk,The country’s first astronaut mission Gaganyaan has been postponed till 2026. This mission was to be launched next year. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chief, S Somanath has informed about postponing the Gaganyaan mission by a year. He said that before the country’s astronaut mission to space, many uncrewed test flights will be conducted. Due to some setbacks faced by the aerospace industry recently, ISRO is taking full caution regarding the preparations for the Gaganyaan mission. With the launch of this mission, India will become the fourth country after America, Russia and China to send astronauts to space. ISRO’s elaborate training procedures and the addition of a fourth uncrewed flight are also among the reasons for postponing the mission. In the Gaganyaan mission, one or two astronauts will be taken to Low Earth Orbit, about 400 kilometers above the Earth.
The return of American space agency NASA’s astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore from the International Space Station (ISS) has been postponed till February next year due to a technical problem in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. In June this year, Williams and his fellow astronaut Wilmore arrived at the ISS on a mission of only eight days. However, their return had to be postponed due to technical problems with the Styliner. ISRO has also learned from this case. ISRO has conducted many tests to enhance the safety of Gaganyaan mission. These include assessment of emergency evacuation mechanisms and recovery systems. Crew training for the Gaganyaan mission is going on in the country as well as abroad. Indian Air Force test pilot Shubhanshu Shukla is among the astronauts training for this mission.
The G1 flight may be conducted later this year as part of preparations for the Gaganyaan mission. Humanoid robot Vyomitra will be sent in this flight. In this, flight re-entry, use of parachute and controlled splashdown will be tested in the Bay of Bengal. After G1, three more uncrewed flights will complete the testing phase of the Gaganyaan mission.
