Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief explained about Gaganyaan mission and its importance for India. While addressing the 8th convocation of IIT Bhubaneswar, K Sivan said the mission will give a thrust to the country's science and technology capabilities. "There are some questions. In what way Gaganyaan is going to be useful? Gaganyaan is extremely important for India as it will boost the science and technology capability of the country," he said. "By December 2020, we are going to have the first unmanned mission of human spacecraft," added Sivan. He asserted that though ISRO's plan to soft land Chandrayaan-2's 'Vikram' module on the lunar surface did not go as per script, it will have no bearing with the Gaganyaan mission.
The ISRO chief had earlier said that Gaganyaan mission is the space agency's next priority, while briefing about their moon mission Chandrayaan-2.
Here are key things to know about Mission Gaganyaan:
1) The first Indian astronaut will be sent to space under the Gaganyaan mission for which work is already underway.
2) "The second unmanned human spacecraft, we are targeting for July 2021. By December 2021, the first Indian will be carried out by our own rocket to space. This is our target. Everybody at the ISRO is working for that," Isro chief K Sivan said.
3) The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) signed MoUs with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to offer technologies for the mission, including space food, survival kits for crew, radiation protection equipment and parachutes.
4) The ISRO plans to send three astronauts to space for seven days onboard Gaganyaan, a crew capsule, to be launched with the help of Geo-Synchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV).
5) The mission is a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
6) The mission worth ₹10,000 crore was approved by the Union Cabinet last year.
7) If Gaganyaan is successful, India would become the fourth nation to achieve the feat.
8) Two unmanned flights and one manned flight will be undertaken as part of Gaganyaan programme.
9) India has signed agreements with Russia and France for cooperation on the Gaganyaan mission.
10) India's first man in space Rakesh Sharma, who flew aboard the Soyuz T-11, launched on 2 April 1984, was an Indian Air Force pilot.
