India's Human Space Flight Mission Gaganyaan likely to be delayed by one year due to COVID

According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India’s first human space flight mission Gaganyaan is likely to be delayed by one year.

Nithya Satheesh

credits: ISRO Facebook

Bengaluru: According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India’s first human space flight mission Gaganyaan is likely to be delayed by one year due to the adverse impact from the Covid 19 pandemic.

As per the decree of Gaganyaan, two unmanned missions would be undertaken prior to the manned mission. Out of which one unmanned mission was scheduled for December 2020 and other during July 2021. The first manned mission was scheduled in December 2021.

That will be delayed because of Covid, we are targeting for sometime next yearend or the subsequent year.

- ISRO Chairman, Kailasavadivoo Sivan

The objective of Gaganyaan is to carry a 3-member crew to the low earth orbit, an orbit of 2,000km or less, for a period of five to seven days and safely return to the Earth after the mission. ISRO's heavy lift launcher, GSLV Mk III, is identified for Gaganyaan mission and the process for human rating of this rocket is in progress.

The work of Chandrayaan-3 mission is in progress. "We have not yet fixed the schedule (for the Chandrayaan-3 launch)" Kailasavadivoo Sivan said. The orbiter mission to Venus, 'Shukrayaan', is going on.

Due to delays arising from pandemic situation, they are planning to launch either in 2024 or 2026.