Gaganyaan: India's 1st manned mission abort test demo likely on October 25

New Delhi The test flight to demonstrate the abort capabilities for Gaganyaan is expected around October 25, senior officials from the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said, putting a date to an event that will take India one step closer to its ambitious first human spaceflight mission.

Read here: Gaganyaan mission: ISRO gearing up for first abort test of crew escape system this month-end

A senior official from the Indian space agency said that the abort capability demonstration can be expected later in the month, if “all goes per plan”.

“...mission preparation is going as per plan. We are targeting for the abort test demonstration to happen around October 25. After that is achieved, we will go ahead with preparations of the uncrewed mission,” the official added.

On the sidelines of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) foundation day on September 26, Isro chairman S Somanath had talked about the plans to conduct the abort test demonstration in October, but did not reveal the dates.

The Gaganyaan project aims to show Isro’s human spaceflight capability by launching a crew of three members to an orbit of 400km for a three-day mission and bringing them back safely.

“The prerequisites for Gaganyaan mission include development of many critical technologies including human rated launch vehicle for carrying crew safely to space, life support system to provide an earth like environment to crew in space, crew emergency escape provision and evolving crew management aspects for training, recovery and rehabilitation of crew,” Isro said in its mission document.

Demonstrator missions ahead of the human spaceflight mission include integrated air drop test (IADT), pad abort test (PAT) and test vehicle (TV) flights— -all of which are expected to be scheduled before the first quarter of 2024, when Isro is aiming to launch the uncrewed mission. Safety and reliability of all systems will be proven in unmanned missions preceding the manned mission, Isro has said.

Expected to take flight around the last quarter of 2024 or in early 2025, astronauts who have been chosen for the mission are currently undergoing training at various Isro facilities. Early this week, the Indian Air Force (IAF) released the first-look images of these astronauts, who will be called ‘Gaganauts’, without revealing their identities.

The Gaganyaan plan comes at a highly successful time for Isro, with Chandrayaan-3 landing near the lunar south pole, the Aditya-L1 solar mission expected by February 2024, and various other interplanetary launches in the works.

Read here: ISRO to launch first test vehicle mission for Gaganyaan in a month or two

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) director S Unnikrishnan Nair said that work around Gaganyaan, to ensure all systems are safe to carry humans, is progressing at a promising rate. “All vehicle systems have reached Sriharikota for the final assembly,” he said.