One Gaganyaatri From ISRO Set To Travel To Space Station After August: Minister Jitendra Singh

New Delhi: As part of ISRO-NASA collaboration, a Gaganyaatri is all set to travel to the International Space Station in the coming weeks, space minister Jitendra Singh informed the Lok Sabha. "One Gaganyaatri from ISRO will undertake space travel to the International Space Station (ISS),” the Minister confirmed.The ISRO-NASA joint venture along with the collaboration with a private entity Axiom Space plans to put one Gaganyaatri for the space travel to ISS. ISRO singed a space flight agreement with Axiom Space for this mission."Pursuing an Isro-Nasa joint mission to ISS wherein one Gaganyatri from Isro will undertake space travel to ISS. This is a collaborative effort of Isro, Nasa and Nasa-identified private entity, i.e. Axiom Space. Recently, Isro has signed a space flight agreement with Axiom Space for this joint mission to the ISS," the minister said in a written reply to the Lower House. In response to a Lok Sabha query from Trinamool Congress MLA Saugata Roy regarding the “Axiom-4 Mission”, astronauts, and the Gaganyaan mission, NASA has announced that it, in collaboration with Axiom Space, has scheduled the fourth private astronaut mission to the ISS. This mission is expected to launch no earlier than August 2024 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. One of the Gaganyatri selected for this ISS mission will be among the four Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots currently undergoing training for the Gaganyaan mission.The Astronaut Selection Board formed by ISRO had previously chosen four astronauts from a pool of IAF test pilots. During the pandemic, these astronauts completed initial spaceflight training modules in Russia. Presently, they are continuing their training at ISRO’s Astronaut Training Facility in Bengaluru. According to Minister Jitendra Singh, the Gaganyaan training program has completed two of its three semesters. The training includes the use of independent training simulators and static mockup simulators.Regarding the launch vehicle for the mission, Singh stated that the solid and liquid propulsion stages of the human-rated launch vehicle are ready for flight integration. The C32 cryogenic stage is nearing completion, and the structures for the crew module and service module are finished, with flight integration activities ongoing.The Gaganyaan mission is ISRO's flagship project aimed at demonstrating human spaceflight capabilities. It involves sending a crew of three into a 400 km orbit for a three-day mission and returning them safely to Earth, with the planned landing in Indian waters. The mission is anticipated to launch in 2025.