First uncrewed Gaganyaan mission launch likely in December: Isro chief

NEW DELHI The first uncrewed mission of the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme is ready to launch with a robot and the liftoff is expected in December, said Isro chairman V Narayanan here on Thursday.

“The first uncrewed mission, G1, is going to lift off by this year's end, maybe close to Dec. And in that, the Vyommitra , the half-humanoid, is going to fly,” Narayanan said.

Addressing the media in the presence of space minister Jitendra Singh and astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the Isro chief lauded Shux for his successful mission to the International Space Station (ISS) — the first ever by an Indian. His experience of piloting the Axiom-4 mission is set to be crucial for the Gaganyaan mission .

Narayanan said SpaceX had probably taken “lightly” the liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon-9 rocket that launched the Axiom-4 mission to the ISS, putting at risk the lives of the four astronauts, including Shukla. “If with a crack the rocket lifts off, with the vibrations, it will give way the moment it lifts off. Once it gives way, it will be a catastrophic situation, nothing else," he said.

Shux, who achieved the ISS feat on June 26, called it the “mission of an entire nation”. “I would like to thank every citizen of this country who behaved in a way that made it feel like they actually owned this mission. I truly felt that this was a mission for the entire nation,” he said. Shukla said being on the space station “is very different from what you learn on the ground. It was an unbelievable experience”.

“We have been able to achieve all our technical objectives,” he said. "We had seven different experiments to conduct, ranging from stem cell research to growing sprouts on the space station. Some of them started showing results while we were there. The results were very encouraging”.

“Crew Dragon is one of the three vehicles that can currently take humans to space. We were also fortunate to have training on the Soyuz, which launches from Russia, besides Crew Dragon. The ISS, as you know, is an orbiting laboratory that has been operational since 2000. It has been conducting cutting-edge science and is a perfect example of international collaboration,” he added.

Narayanan said Isro has had a lot of accomplishments in the last four months. “The entire Isro programme is the result of teamwork of 20,000 employees, 450 industrial partners and 300 academia partners. Today, we also have the Gaganyatris for our programmes”. Mentioning various Isro programmes, he said, "There is telemedicine, tele-education, television broadcasting, and real-time connectivity for around 8,600 trains and 21,000 shipping vessels”.

“A total of 13 out of 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals are being supported by Isro,” the Isro chairman said, while also listing the space agency’s other achievements like the Aditya L1 Sun mission and the NISAR mission. “We have made a major breakthrough in cryogenic engine technology. The tests are going very well, and a lot of indigenisation activities are progressing well. Coming to the Aditya L1, this year we have released 13 terabit data,” he said.

“In two to three months, we are also going to launch a 6,500-kg communication satellite of the US, on our launch vehicle. To date, 433 satellites of 34 countries have been launched from India," Narayanan said.