Updates Gaganyaan Updates & Discussions

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The Gaganyaan program (from Sanskrit gagan (sky) + yāna (craft)) is an Indian attempt to sent Indians into space using indigenous technology. Until today, Indians (and other people of Indian descent) have gone to space using foreign spacecraft.

Spoiler: Space travellers of Indian descent (till 2022, in chronological order)

• Rakesh Sharma: flown into space onboard Soyuz T-11 (1984). He is still alive at the age of 73.
• Kalpana Chawla: flown into space twice onboard Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-87 in 1997, STS-107 in 2003). She died onboard Columbia in 2003.
• Sunita "Suni" Williams: flown into space twice, one onboard Space Shuttles (STS-116/STS-117) and one onboard Soyuz TMA-05M. She has spent 321 days, 17 hours and 15 minutes in space and is expected to fly again onboard a Boeing Starliner spacecraft.
• Raja Chari: recently flown into space onboard Crew Dragon Endurance (Crew-3 in 2021).

Addendum (2022-02-08): Ravish Malhotra was a backup crew for Rakesh Sharma during the Soyuz T-11 mission. While he has never gone into space, he had trained to be a cosmonaut in the USSR.

Addendum (2022-05-06): Raja Chari came back to Earth this day.

The first unmanned mission of Gaganyaan is expected to launch this year after Chandrayaan-3.

Addendum (2022-02-08): ISRO space travellers travelling onboard Gaganyaan will be called "vyomanauts" (portmanteau of Sanskrit vyoman (outer space) and English astronaut).

 

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https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1525035979542736896

 

[MaxBuzz]

one or two people of Indian origin will go into space next year. Mission infrastructure tests will be carried out before the end of this year

at the same time, a female robot Vyommitra will be sent into space (in 2022)