Gaganyaan : India's human spaceflight programme

Gaganyaan mission was announcemen in August 2018 to send three Indians (including a woman) to space by 2022, the government approved further Rs. 10,000 crore for the 5-7 days crewed flight.

It is a mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to send three flights into orbit. There will be two unmanned flights and one human spaceflight.

The first uncrewed flight was planned with a spacecraft called Gaganyaan for December 2021 on a GSLV Mark III rocket. It has been delayed due to the Covid-19 induced lockdown.

The human spaceflight module of Gaganyaan will be launched after the second unmanned mission planned in 2022-23.

If completed, India will become the fourth nation to conduct independent human spaceflight after the Soviet Union/Russia, United States, and China.

It will circle Earth at a low-earth-orbit at an altitude of 300-400 km from earth for 5-7 days.

In June 2019, the Human Space Flight Centre of the ISRO and the Russian government-owned Glavkosmos signed a contract for the training, which includes Russian support in the selection of candidates, their medical examination, and space training.

Glavkosmos is a subsidiary of ROSCOSMOS (the Russian space agency).

Four Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots, chosen as candidate-astronauts have begun training at the Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Centre (GCTC) in Moscow, Russia.

The astronauts' orange space suits were created by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.

Gaganyaan Mission is expected to source nearly 60 percent of its equipment from the Indian private sector.

The Gaganyaan mission will not only bring about prestige to the nation but also establish India's role as a key player in the space industry. It will also provide inspiration to the youth and the national public mainstream.

The objective of the Gaganyaan programme is to demonstrate the capability to send humans to low earth orbit on board an Indian launch vehicle and bring them back to earth safely.

ISRO is also taking the help of French, Russian and the U.S. space agencies in "some of the crucial activities and supply of components".