Gaganyaan

• Gaganyaan Program is India’s first manned Spacecraft. In the 15 August (2018) Speech, PM Modi set a target of 2022 for the Space Manned Mission. It has been delayed now and is expected to be launched in 2025.
• It will carry 3 crew members to low earth orbit (400 km above earth’s surface) , their stay for 3 days and their safe return back to Earth.
• India will become 4th country after US, Russia and China to have this capability.

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Spacecraft / Space Shuttle

• As Satellite Launch Vehicles are used to send satellites in the Orbits. In the same way, Spacecraft is used to send astronauts into space. 
• Examples include China’s Shenzhou, America’s Atlantis, Russia’s Soyuz, SpaceX’s Dragon Capsule and Boeing’s Dreamliner.
• India’s Gaganyaan is also a spacecraft.

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Timeline

1984	Rakesh Sharma travelled to space (becoming the first and only Indian citizen to do so).
2007	The first proposal for ISRO’s human-crewed space mission.
Dec 2014	Experimental flight of manned mission launcher GSLV MK-III tested.
July 2018	ISRO conducted Pad Abort Test (PAT).  Pad Abort Test is part of the crew escape system, which assists in quickly pulling the astronaut cabin along with the crew out to a safer distance from the launch vehicle during a launch abort.
15 August 2018	PM Modi announced that Gaganyaan will be launched by 2022. But the project got delayed.
2024	ISRO will send a humanoid robot named VYOMMITRA into space before human expedition to test the safety of the spacecraft.
2025	First, Indian manned Spacecraft will be launched.

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Earlier Manned Missions

Only 3 countries — the USA, Russia and China — have sent human spaceflights.

Vostok 1 Mission (USSR,1961)	Took Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union into space, making him the world’s first human in space.
Mercury Mission (USA, 1961)	Alan Shepard was the first American sent to space.
Shenzou (China, 2003)	This mission put the first Chinese citizen in space.
Rakesh Kumar	Rakesh Kumar was the first Indian sent to space on a Russian Soyuz Space vehicle.

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What will Gaganyaan Project include?

• Gaganyaan is India’s manned mission to space.
• In the mission, GSLV MK-III will carry a 3-member crew to the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and safe return to the Earth after the duration of a few orbits to two days.  
• An extendable version of the spaceship will allow flights up to 7 days & docking capability with the space station.

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Key Components of Human Space  Program

1. Building up a Habitable Module 
2. Other life support systems like Space Suits 
3. Astronaut training 
4. Capabilities for recovering Astronauts safely
5. Crew Escape System 

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Do you know?

Indian Astronauts will be called ‘Vyomanauts‘.

ISRO will send a humanoid robot called Vyommitra before sending human to test the safety of spacecraft.

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Objectives of Gaganyaan Programme

• The exponential growth of science and technology in the country.
• Improvement of industrial growth.
• Inspiring youth.
• Development of technology for social benefit.
• Improving international collaboration.

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Benefits / Significance of Human Space Program

• It will help India in doing Research and Development in space. Indian scientists will get the opportunity to conduct experiments in space through Gaganyaan Mission.
• It will encourage our scientific community and will help in making India a knowledge-based economy. Significant advancement will happen in material processing, astrobiology, resources mining, planetary chemistry, planetary orbital calculus. 
• The Manned Space Program is essential to control the resources present outside the Earth. If we plan to set up colonies outside the Earth in the future, such programs will be of great help.
• It has the added advantage to achieve the status of great power.
• Indian industry will find significant opportunities as Gaganyaan Mission is expected to source ~60% of its equipment from the Indian private sector. 
• According to the ISRO chief, the Gaganyaan mission would create 15,000 new employment opportunities. 
• It will increase India’s soft power and give space to Indian Space diplomacy. India will be the fourth country to launch a human space mission, establishing India’s role as a key player in the space industry.

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Challenges

• The human body is designed according to Earth’s gravity. There is a microgravity environment in space, which affects hand-eye and head-eye coordination. In the absence of gravity, blood and body fluids cannot distribute to the lower part of the body and accumulate in the upper part. Additionally, the size of the heart decreases, bones become weak, and the brain cannot interpret information correctly.
• Humans in space are subjected to a high degree of radiation, increasing cancer risk.
• Space is a hostile environment as there is a lack of gravity, danger of radiation and absence of atmosphere.  
• Financial: These missions require exorbitantly huge investment as they are highly technology-intensive. It will cost ISRO Rs. 10,000 crores.
• Re-entry and Recovery: The biggest challenge in the case of human flight is the re-entry of the vehicle back into the Earth’s atmosphere and recovery of the module as it is subjected to extreme heat due to friction with the air. Even the slightest deviation can result in disaster. 

ISS

• ISS or International Space Station is a man-made or artificial habitable satellite in Low Earth orbit (between 278 km and 460 km) and travels at 15.7 orbits per day.
• The space station also acts as a laboratory in space where astronauts stay for an extended period to carry out experiments in microgravity.
• It is a joint venture of NASA (USA), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada). 
• It has been operating since 1998 and will continue to operate till 2031.
• Building a Space Station is an expensive affair, and ISS is the most expensive object ever constructed by man, with a cost amounting to $150 billion.
• It will be operational till 2031.
• ISS is the ninth space station. Earlier, Mir, Salyut and Almaz were the Space Stations of the USSR, and Skylab was the Space Station of the USA. 

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Other Space Stations

• Tianhe: Chinese Space Station, operational since 2021.
• Russian Plans: Russia will withdraw from ISS in 2025 and will launch its space station in 2030. 
• Bhartiya Antariksha Station: Proposed by ISRO and plans are to launch its first module by 2028.

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Uses of Space Stations

• It acts as a Microgravity Lab. It is used to conduct experiments in biology, physics etc., in a micro-gravity environment.
• Observe the long-term effects of space exposure on the human body. 
• Study of cosmic rays, cosmic dust, antimatter and dark matter in the universe.
• It serves as a Space Terminal. 
• It can also be used in Space Tourism.

• Artemis is the moon mission of NASA which aims to land the next man and the first woman on the moon by 2024.
• The long term goal is to build Artemis Base Camp on the Moon’s surface and the Gateway in lunar orbit.  This will allow robots and astronauts to explore and conduct scientific experiments on Lunar surface.

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Artemis 1 Mission

• In 2022, NASA’s Artemis 1 mission successfully lifted off from the Kennedy Space Centre.
•  It is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions to build a long-term human presence at the Moon .
• It is an uncrewed flight test that will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration.
• Future Missions: Artemis I will be followed by Artemis II (Planned for 2024) and Artemis III (Planned for 2026)

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Side Topic: Artemis

• Artemis was a major deity in Ancient Greece. She was daughter of Zeus (Chief Greek God) and twin sister of Apollo (god of sun).
• The Greeks and Romans associated Artemis with the Moon. Her independence and strength have long inspired women in a wide range of activities. She has also become a modern-day feminist icon.

Rakesh Sharma

• He was the first Indian to travel to space. 
• He was born in Patiala in 1949 and later joined Indian Airforce as a pilot, from where he joined ISRO.
• As a cosmonaut, he went to space in a Soviet Spacecraft (Soyuz T-11). 

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Kalpana Chawla

• She was the first woman of Indian origin to go into space. 
• She did his B. Tech from Punjab Engineering College (Chandigarh) and PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the USA.
• Her first space flight was on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997. Unfortunately, in 2003, Kalpana Chawla was part of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster and lost her life.

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Sunita Williams

• Sunita Williams is American of Indian (Gujarati) descent. 
• She has done 7 spacewalks and stayed in space for the longest time in a single flight (195 days).

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Raja Chari

• NASA has selected Raja Chari to fly to ISS in SpaceX Crew-3 Mission (with 3 other astronauts). 
• It is part of NASA’s Artemis program that aims to expand humanity’s horizons in space. 

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Anil Menon

• Anil Menon is a doctor of Indian origin who has worked in SpaceX as a surgeon during its project to launch humans into space. 
• He has been chosen by NASA as a future astronaut.