ISRO to send 3 Indians in space for seven days

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will send a three-member team into space for up to a week when it launches its first manned mission expected in 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union Cabinet announced on Friday.

The ambitious human spaceflight initiative - Gaganyaan - will India into a select league of nations along with the USA, Russia and China.

In his first Independence day speech in 2014, PM Modi had spoken about the plan to launch first human spaceflight by 2022. ISRO has been given a tight schedule of 40 months and a Rs 9,023 crore budget to convert this dream into reality.

A human-rated GSLV MK-III will be used to carry the orbital module, which will have necessary provisions for sustaining a 3-member crew for 7 days in space. Two unmanned flights and one manned flight will be undertaken as part of Gaganyaan programme.

The necessary infrastructure for crew training, realisation of the flight systems and ground infrastructure will be established to support the Gaganyaan (Sky-Vehicle) Programme. ISRO will collaborate extensively with national agencies, laboratories, academia and industry to accomplish the programme's objectives, said Union Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Sources said that the crew for the first manned flight is likely to be picked up from the ace lot of the Indian Air Force pilots as they fulfill the key requirements needed for space travel and already have the ability to withstand G pressure at supersonic speed and manage glitches better. In the long run, the ISRO has plans to use subsequent flights to be used as a tourist attraction. However, that plan is still at a nascent stage.

The ISRO will strive to put a woman in the first flight itself as per PM Modi's wishes, sources added.

"The Gaganyaan programme will allow pooling in of diverse technological and industrial capabilities and enable broader participation in research opportunities and technology development, which will benefit a large number of students and researchers. The flight system realisation will be through the industry," Prasad added.

The programme is expected to spur research and development within the country in niche science and technology domains and accrue huge potential for technology spin offs in areas such as medicine, agriculture, industrial safety, pollution, waste management, and water and food resource management.

It will also provide a unique micro-gravity platform in space for conducting experiments and test bed for future technologies and give impetus to economic activities within the country in terms of employment generation, human resource development and enhanced industrial capabilities.

ISRO had also announced in July that it planned to send an unmanned mission to the moon in 2019. The agency had launched an orbiter to Mars in 2013, which is still operational and last year launched a record 104 satellites in one blast-off.

New Delhi is competing with other international players for a greater share of the satellite market, and is known for its low-cost space programme.

(With AFP inputs)