Gaganyaan (Sanskrit: [ɡəɡənəjɑːnə],, from Sanskrit: gagana, "celestial" and yāna, "craft, vehicle") is an Indian crewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the formative spacecraft of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. The spacecraft is being designed to carry three people to low Earth orbit, and a planned upgraded version will be equipped with rendezvous and docking capabilities. In its maiden crewed mission, ISRO's largely autonomous 5.3 tonnes (5.2 long tons; 5.8 short tons) capsule will orbit the Earth at 400 kilometres (250 mi) altitude for up to seven days with a two- or three-person crew on board. The first crewed mission was originally planned to be launched on ISRO's human-rated LVM3 rocket (HLVM3) in December 2021. As of November 2024, it is expected to be launched no earlier than 2027. The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)-manufactured crew module underwent its first uncrewed experimental flight in 2014; design of the crew module was completed in 2019. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) provides life support systems including space food, crew healthcare, radiation measurement and protection, module parachutes, and the fire suppression system. The Gaganyaan project is led by V. R. Lalithambika, the former Director of the Directorate of the Human Spaceflight Programme with ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan and A. Rajarajan, Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. Imtiaz Ali Khan superseded V. R. Lalithambika as the Director of the Directorate of Human Spaceflight Programme.
Background Like the Chandrayaan and other extraterrestrial missions, the Indian space programme began with no intentions of undertaking sophisticated initiatives like human spaceflight. It was only after ISRO developed extensive launch capabilities when human spaceflight was being considered in the late 2000s. In August 2007, the then Chairman of the ISRO, G. Madhavan Nair, revealed that the agency was "seriously considering" the creation of a human spaceflight programme. He further indicated that, ISRO would report on its development of new space capsule technologies within a year. Later in the 2010s, the development of LVM3 enabled ISRO to pursue the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme with Gaganyaan, the first crewed spacecraft of India.
Soviet-India Cooperation Although the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) did not pursue an independent human-spaceflight programme during the 20th century, it participated in a joint mission under Soviet Union's Interkosmos programme, where Indian Air Force pilot Rakesh Sharma was selected and trained for spaceflight in cooperation with the Soviet space program. On 3 April 1984, Sharma became the first Indian-born citizen to enter space when he flew aboard the Soviet Soyuz T-11, launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (now Kazakhstan). The Soyuz T-11 spacecraft carrying cosmonauts including Sharma docked and transferred the three member Soviet-Indian international crew, consisting of the ship's commander, Yury Malyshev, and flight engineer, Gennadi Strekalov, to the Salyut 7 Orbital Station. Sharma spent 7 days, 21 hours, and 40 minutes aboard the Salyut 7, during which he conducted an Earth observation focused on the Indian subcontinent. He also did life sciences and materials processing experiments, including silicium fusing tests. The mission provided India with early operational and scientific exposure to human spaceflight, contributing foundational experience that would inform ISRO's later ambitions in crewed space missions. To commemorate the occasion, the governments of India and the Soviet Union released special stamps and first day covers.
Spacecraft history Preliminary studies and technological development of Gaganyaan capsule started in 2006 under the generic name "Orbital Vehicle". The plan was to design a simple capsule with an endurance of about a week in space, a capacity of two astronauts, and a splashdown landing after re-entry. The project was commissioned in 2007, with expected completion by 2024 and a budget of around ₹10,000 crore. The spacecraft design was finalized by March 2008 and was submitted to the Government of India for funding under ISRO's human spaceflight programme, which was sanctioned in February 2009, but fell short due to limited developmental funding. Initially, the first uncrewed flight of the orbital vehicle was proposed to be in 2013, then it was revised to 2016. However, in April 2012, it was reported that funding problems placed the future of the project in serious doubt. And in August 2013, it was announced that all crewed spaceflight efforts by India had been designated as being "off ISRO's priority list". By early 2014, the project had been reconsidered and was one of the main beneficiaries of a substantial budget increase announced in February 2014.
Space Capsule Recovery Experiment ISRO developed the Gaganyaan orbital vehicle based on the tests performed with their scaled 555 kilograms (1,224 lb) experimental spacecraft from Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE), which was launched and recovered in January 2007. In SRE, an experimental capsule that had been in orbit earlier splashed into the Bay of Bengal after descending from a height of 635 kilometres (395 mi). The purpose of the mission was to test reusable thermal protection system, management of communication blackout, guidance, navigation and control, hypersonic aero-thermodynamics, braking system, deceleration system, flotation devices and recovery procedures.
Cabinet approval The push for the Indian Human Spaceflight Program, which included the Gaganyaan spacecraft, took place in 2017. It was accepted and formally announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his 2018 Independence Day address to the nation. The programme was approved by the Union Cabinet on 28 December 2018. The design in 2022 called for a crew of three. ISRO was set to perform four biological and two physical science experiments related to microgravity during the first Gaganyaan mission. Hydrazine was planned to be replaced with green propellant on Gaganyaan missions, for which the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) was already working on a monopropellant blended formulation consisting of hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN), ammonium nitrate, methanol and water as of 2021.
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