The rocket being prepared to carry Indian astronauts under the Gaganyaan mission is ready after safety and reliability checks, ISRO Chairman Narayanan said at an event in Chennai on October 24. He said three successful uncrewed test flights would be completed before astronauts are sent into space.
Narayanan was speaking to reporters after attending the 42nd convocation ceremony of Sri Ramachandra Medical College in Porur. He said preparations for Gaganyaan, described as one of India’s most important programmes, were progressing intensively.
The mission’s crew safety architecture includes a crew module and a crew escape system. According to the ISRO chairman, the escape system is designed to take astronauts safely away from the spacecraft if a technical problem occurs during the mission. The systems are being developed to address the risks associated with carrying people rather than only instruments or experimental payloads.
The crew module will also have a dedicated environmental control and life-support arrangement. It is intended to regulate temperature, air pressure and humidity inside the spacecraft, while managing oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. These functions are central to maintaining a controlled environment for astronauts during the mission.
Narayanan said astronauts would not be sent until three uncrewed test flights had been completed successfully. The sequence places additional flight testing between the present stage of rocket readiness and the first crewed mission. The report did not provide a date for the first astronaut launch or specify the schedule for the three tests.
Training for the astronauts is being provided through the Indian Air Force, he said. The involvement of the Air Force forms part of the wider institutional preparation for human spaceflight, alongside spacecraft development, launch-vehicle testing and crew-survival systems.
The announcement highlights how Gaganyaan depends on more than the readiness of a launch vehicle. A crewed mission requires coordinated systems for launch, escape, habitation and astronaut training, as well as repeated validation before people are placed on board. The reported environmental controls indicate that the spacecraft is being designed to support human life under tightly managed conditions rather than simply deliver a payload into orbit.
Narayanan also said ISRO scientists were continuing research on Chandrayaan programmes and reusable rocket launch system technology. The comments place Gaganyaan within a broader programme of capability-building that includes lunar missions and efforts to develop reusable launch technologies.
The immediate operational milestone stated by ISRO is the completion of three successful uncrewed test flights. Only after those tests, and the safety and reliability assessments associated with them, will the process move towards sending astronauts into space.
