NEW DELHI: Three Indians who will be chosen for the country’s first human space flight programme “will reach space within 16 minutes of the launch from Sriharikota”. They will spend “five to seven days in the low-earth orbit before the crew module makes a “splashdown in the Arabian Sea off the Gujarat coast”, Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) chariman K Sivan said here on Tuesday. He said “Isro will certainly launch the Gaganyaan by 2022”, the deadline set by PM Narendra Modi during his recent I-Day speech.
Making a detailed presentation here, Sivan, accompanied by minister of state for atomic energy and space Jitendra Singh, said, “A crew module carrying three Indians will be attached with a service module. Together, these two modules will comprise the orbital module that will be integrated with an advanced GSLV Mk III rocket. The rocket will take the crew to the low-earth orbit (300-400 km) where they will perform micro-gravity and other scientific experiments for a week.”
For the return journey, Sivan said, “The orbital module will reorient itself. The crew and service modules will get separated at 120 km altitude. The crew module will apply aerobrake to reduce speed and parachutes will open just before the splashdown in the Arabian Sea off Gujarat. The return journey will take 36 minutes. In case of a technical problem, the module can land in the Bay of Bengal as a back-up.” He said, “The module will be the size of a small cubicle (3.4 m diametre) with a mass of 7 tonnes.” The Isro chief said the manned mission, whose preparation started way back in 2004, “will provide employment to 15,000 people”.
On mission preparations, Sivan said, “Isro will conduct the first unmanned test-flight within 30 months. The second unmanned test in 36 months. Finally, the first human spaceflight in 40 months. Most of the critical technologies needed for the mission like crew escape system have already been developed.”
On crew selection and training, Sivan said, “The spacesuit is ready. The crew members will be jointly selected by the IAF and Isro after which they will be trained for two-three years. We will send them to a training facility in Bengaluru. We are also consulting Rakesh Sharma (first Indian cosmonaut to go to space in 1984) for the mission.”
Minister Jitendra Singh said, “We won’t call it a manned mission as the PM has said in his I-Day speech that a girl can also be sent to space. This programme will totally be an indigenous mission. However, we can send the selected crew for training abroad.” The minister told TOI, “We are not sending robots or animals to space first. The reason being there are several advantages of sending humans to space. They can do several experiments in space and experience the changes in human behaviour, including psychological and biological changes.”
On the mission budget, Singh said, “Less than Rs 10,000 crore will be allocated for the mission. This money will be in addition to the annual budget of Rs 6,000 crore earmarked for Isro. This will be a cost-effective budget as the money allocated will be much less than what other countries had spent on the manned mission.”