Gaganyaan started in 2006 under the generic name “Orbital Vehicle”. Then the building of the vehicle began, leaving behind various obstacles and issues, Gaganyaan was ready and finally funded. On 15th August 2018, the vehicle was accepted and announced by our Honorable Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
The space commission is headed by ISRO Chairman and department of space secretary K Sivan. The Gaganyaan mission aims to send 3-member crew to space for a period of 5-7 days by 2022, when India completes 75 years of Independence. The planning of this mission was done by the ISRO keeping in mind the given mission.
Due to the covid-19 pandemic, there will be a delay in the launch of India’s unmanned space mission which was initially planned for December ’20. This launch was part of the two unmanned missions to be undertaken by the Indian space research organization. The first unmanned mission was planned in December ’20 and the second unmanned mission in June ’21.
ISRO had earlier indicated that there would be a delay in several missions as the space body’s work has been hit due to disruptions hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The major projects which have been affected are Chandrayaan-3 and Gaganyaan. Sources said that, ISRO is taking efforts to stick on the initial plan as on for 2022. The sources also added that staff from ISRO’s different centers were infected. Only essential and process related work is on, also the industry has been affected.
The training of 4 astronauts sent to Russia was also hit due to the pandemic, however the training has now resumed. The spacecraft will be placed in a low earth orbit of 300-400 kilometres. The total program cost is expected to be less than Rs 10,000 crores. Even though Minister of State, Jitendra Singh said that the training was halted, the chairman of ISRO and scientific team said that there was a “cushion period” kept between the training program and launch deadline.
Jitendra Singh also said that the training of astronauts has now been resumed and the launch is scheduled to take place as planned, before the 75th Independence day in 2022.
NEWS REPORTED BY:
VRIDHI BHAGNARI.
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