PM Modi reveals names of 4 astronauts for Gaganyaan
During a visit to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, Prime Minister Narendra Modi revealed the names of the 4 astronauts selected for India’s historic Gaganyaan mission. The crew, which includes Group Captain Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, Angad Pratap, Ajit Krishnan, and Shubanshu Shukla, consists of experienced Indian Air Force (IAF) test pilots with the rank of wing commander or group captain who have been trained to respond fast in the event of an emergency.
The four astronauts received rigorous training at ISRO’s astronaut training center in Bengaluru, and the final selection was made at the IAF’s Institute of Aerospace Medicine. Only three people will eventually embark on the Gaganyaan mission.
In June 2019, ISRO and Glavkosmos, a subsidiary of Russia’s Roscosmos, signed a memorandum of understanding for astronaut training. The training took place at Russia’s Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre from February 2020 to March 2021.
Additionally, NASA will train an Indian astronaut for an International Space Station mission by the end of 2024, with the Gaganyaan mission participants likely to be selected.
The Gaganyaan mission aims to showcase India’s human spaceflight capabilities by sending astronauts into a 400-kilometer orbit above Earth for a 3-day mission, followed by a safe landing in Indian sea waters.
