ISRO chief S Somnath on Saturday said that four astronauts have been selected for the country's first human spaceflight program – Gaganyaan – and the selected astronauts are ready for the mission and are waiting for the flight to take place. Under the Gaganyaan mission, ISRO plans to send four astronauts into space for a period of three days and bring them back safely.
Speaking about the Gaganyaan mission while addressing the students at the 11th convocation of Pandit Deendayal Energy University (PDEU), Somnath (as quoted by ANI) said, “For the first mission, we have selected four, and our aim is to to get them to space and return them safely by at least 2025. Getting them back safely is a very important part of this mission.”
The veteran scientist said that a lot of technology will have to be developed in the coming days to make Gaganyaan's dream a reality and ISRO is working day and night to make that a reality.
While talking about the astronauts for the Gaganyaan mission, Somnath said, “In the coming days, we will see several missions without humans, and then finally the launch of an Indian into space. The astronauts are already ready. They wait for the flight to take place. This is one of the important missions we are looking at,”
Somnath noted that India is now a global leader in space technology, even as investments in this sector remain modest. He noted that despite budget constraints, the country has been able to build its own spacecraft and launchers and achieve its goals. The veteran scientist also spoke about the success of India's ambitious Chandrayaan-3 mission, which helped put the country on an elite list of countries like the US, the former Soviet Union and China to achieve a soft landing on the lunar surface .
Speaking about the success of Chandrayaan-3, Somnath said, “The energy created by the landing of Chandrayaan-3 allows us to dream big today. None of our dreams can be small. With every increasing success we achieve, our dreams become bigger and bigger, and that must be realized. And that can only be done by young people coming into this sector.”
Milestone alert!Livemint tops the charts as the fastest growing news website in the world 🌏 click here to know more.
View all election news, business news, market news, breaking news events and breaking news updates on DailyExertNews. Download the Mint News app to receive daily market updates.
. or less
Updated: Dec 3, 2023 11:23 AM IST