Women Astronauts, Gaganyaan & More: ISRO Declares Major Plans

The first human spaceflight is planned for December 2021, and will aim to include women astronauts.

ISRO will launch 32 missions throughout the year

(Photo Courtesy: ISRO)

India’s first human spaceflight could possibly include women astronauts, the chief of India’s space agency hinted on Friday.

ISRO Chief K Sivan held a press conference at the ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru on Friday, 11 January 2019, to brief the media on the space organisation's plans for the year.

Sivan listed out major missions like the Gaganyaan and the GSAT 20 satellite launch as part of the organisation's plans for 2019.

He said that ISRO will launch 32 missions throughout the year, listing out the new technologies in the works as well.

Sivan said that the approval for the Gaganyaan mission has been a major turning point for ISRO. He said that the first non-human spaceflight - Gaganyaan mission - will take place in December 2020 and the first human spaceflight Gaganyaan mission will take place a year later in December 2021. There will be a second human spaceflight probe before ISRO sends a human with the Gaganyaan, scheduled for July 2021.

“The initial training for Gaganyaan will be done in India and advanced training maybe in Russia. Women astronauts will be there on the team. That’s our aim.”

K Sivan, ISRO Chief

Sivan also said that India's moon mission Chandrayaan-2 is planned for mid-April, pushing back the earlier schedule that put the launch sometime before 16 February.

"Regarding Chandrayaan-2’s schedule, right now Chandrayaan is scheduled from March 25 to April end. Most probably, the normal targeted date is April middle," Sivan told reporters.

The mission, costing nearly Rs 800 crore, is an advanced version of the previous Chandrayaan-1 mission about 10 years ago.  

Another big announcement made by Sivan was the opening of Human Space Flight Center to train astronauts. He also announced that ISRO will demonstrate a reusable launch vehicle this year.

The latest technologies include new category of SSLV vehicles that require only six people to operate and will be the cheapest and lightest launch vehicles in the world.

(With ANI inputs)