Technologies that will help in sending an Indian astronaut to space by 2022, as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address on Wednesday, have already been completed, ISRO Chairman K Sivan said.
“We have already done development of crew module, crew escape, environment control, life-support system and space suite, as also GSlV-Mark III (the rocket to be used for the mission,” Sivan told PTI.
Prior to the actual launch, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will have two unmanned missions and the spacecraft will be fired using Geosynchronous Satellite launch Vehicle (GSlV) Mark-III, he said.
The ISRO chief’s remarks came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in his Independence Day address that India would attempt a manned mission into space by 2022 on board ‘Gaganyaan’.
“It’s an excellent gift given by the Prime Minister to the nation,” an elated Sivan said. This human space flight venture, he said, would take the country’s science and technology field to a very high level, inspire the younger generation, and “every Indian can be proud of it”.
Asserting that the expense of the project would not be much as most of the technologies have already been developed, the ISRO chairman estimated that it would cost less than `10,000 crore and the spacecraft module would weigh around four-five tons. On how ISRO is going to select the astronaut for the mission, he said, “We need to discuss. Three people can travel. Now all the process will start.”