PM Modi picks four astronauts for Gaganyaan mission: Who are they?

Up, up and away! India’s Gaganyaan mission, the country’s first crewed space mission, is one step closer to reality after Prime Minister Narendra Modi revealed the name of four astronauts who have been selected.

On announcing the names of the four — Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla — PM Modi said: “The country has come to know about the four Gaganyaan passengers. These are not just four names or four people. These are four powers who will take the aspirations of 140 crore Indians to space.”

Who are these chosen four? What is the Gaganyaan mission? Here’s this and much more.

A remarkable day for India's space sector! Addressing a programme at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. Do watch.https://t.co/STAdMjs6Eu

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 27, 2024

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The four astronauts

Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla are Indian Air Force test pilots from Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) in Bengaluru. They have extensive experience as test pilots, making them the ideal candidates for the Gaganyaan mission.

As per a Times of India report, while the names of Nair, Krishnan and Pratap had been finalised some time ago, Shukla is a new name to the mission.

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Group Captain Nair graduated from the National Defence Academy and joined the Air Force as a commissioned officer in 1999. According to a Mathrubhumi report, he flies the Sukhoi fighter jet.

Group Captain Pratap is a resident of Prayagraj passed out of the NDA. He was commissioned in December 2004 in the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force. Group Captain Krishnan, born in April 1982, was a recipient of the President’s Gold Medal and Sword of Honour at Air Force Academy. He was commissioned on 21 Jun 2003 in the fighter stream of IAF.

Last but not the least, Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla was commissioned into the IAF in June 2006. He is a Fighter Combat Leader and a Test Pilot with approx 2000 hrs of flying experience.

Interestingly, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had said in 2019 that the astronauts to-be for the mission would be test pilots, as they have the experience and the ability to respond quickly in situations where something goes wrong.

While announcing their names for the Gaganyaan mission during his visit to Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram, Modi hailed the four and bestowed ‘astronaut wings’ to them. Speaking at the event, Modi referring to Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma (retired), who went to the space in 1984 as part of a Soviet mission said: After four decades, an Indian is poised to venture into space and this time around the countdown, the timing, and even the rocket would be ours.”

The astronauts’ training

The chosen four have been receiving training at the astronaut facility in Bengaluru. Earlier, they underwent an intensive training in Russia at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre, for a period of 13 months. The astronauts also underwent survival training in extreme environments such as snow and deserts, in case the crew module returns to the Earth at an unexpected location.

The training they are undergoing has been handpicked by experienced officials from ISRO,
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the IAF. A News9Live report has said that the curriculum for the training has been designed by Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma (retired) and Air Commodore Ravish Malhotra (retired), both of whom underwent training for the Soviet Intercosmos Programme.

The astronauts have also been taking theoretical courses, physical fitness training, simulator training and flight suit training.

All about the Gaganyaan mission

The Gaganyaan mission aims to send a human crew to a Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) of 400 kilometres and bring them back safely by landing in the Indian Ocean. It was announced by PM Modi during his Republic Day address from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

Initially, the Gaganyaan mission was slated to launch in 2022. However, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and the complexity of the mission, it was delayed and is now looking at a launch for 2025. If successful, it will make India just the fourth nation – after the erstwhile Soviet Union, the United States and China – to carry out manned spaceflights. A Reuters report has stated that about Rs 9000 crore has been allocated for the mission.

As per India Today, the Gaganyaan project is important because countries are now looking to conquer the final frontier of space, explore the cosmos and find new resources on the Moon and on other planets. “An indigenous crew mission will put India at the centre of this race, shaping the already changing geopolitics,” it added.

And as part of the Gaganyaan mission, India in October last year carried out a crucial test flight — Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (or TV-D1) — to demonstrate whether the crew could safely escape the rocket in case it malfunctioned.

And after the success of the test, S Somanath — chairman of ISRO — said after the launch, “I am very happy to announce the successful accomplishment of the TV-D1 (Test Vehicle Demonstration 1) mission.”

After its success, ISRO also said a test flight would take a robot into space in 2024, before astronauts are sent into space in 2025.

India’s space missions

India has been making significant leaps in the space sector. The country made history by becoming the first to land near the Moon’s south pole in August 2023.

In the following weeks, scientists launched Aditya-L1, India’s first observation mission to the Sun, which is now keeping an eye on out solar system’s most important and volatile star. An ambitious India has also announced new plans of setting up a space station by 2035 and sending an astronaut to the Moon by 2040.

With inputs from agencies