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/x/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)

 

[GLS]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1710506719124570606

https://twitter.com/x/status/1714991319473602987

 

[GLS]

Not much to see, but it looks like it all worked!

 

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One of the four Gaganyaan astronauts ("gaganyaatris") will go to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of Axiom 4. It is a joint venture of NASA, ISRO, and Axiom Space.

Links: India Today, Deccan Herald

 

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NASA astronaut Sunita Williams stuck in space: ISRO chief S. Somanath says lessons will be taken for upcoming Gaganyaan mission

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief S Somanath has stated that the current situation where NASA astronaut Sunita Williams is stuck in space for over 60 days will give lessons for future space missions like Gaganyaan. He told Hindustan Times that currently NASA is facing issues undocking Boeing’s Starliner from ISS. This is something that can happen with Gaganyaan, an upcoming crewed ISRO mission. India's ambitious human space mission, Gaganyaan, is taking a significant step forward with the first test flight of its human-rated rocket scheduled for December 2024.

I really hope that Gaganyaan should be as reliable as Soyuz or Crew Dragon, so that our astronauts should not face something like this.