Group captains Shubhanshu Shukla, Prashanth Nair picked for space station mission
In June 2023, India and the United States had signed an agreement for a joint ISRO-NASA effort to the International Space Station
New Delhi: The National Mission Agreement Board has picked Indian astronaut group captain Shubhanshu Shukla as “prime gaganyatri” for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) International Space Station (ISS), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement on Friday.
His backup would be group captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair.
In June 2023, India and the United States had signed an agreement for a joint ISRO-NASA effort to the International Space Station. For this, the Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) of ISRO entered into a Space Flight Agreement (SFA) with NASA-identified service provider Axiom Space International for its Axiom-4 mission.
“The assigned crewmembers will be finally approved to fly to the International Space Station by the Multilateral Crew Operations Panel (MCOP). The recommended Gaganyatris will commence their training for the mission from the 1st week of August 2024,” ISRO said.
During the mission, the gaganyatris will conduct selected scientific research and technology demonstration experiments on board the ISS, as well as participate in space outreach activities.
The experiences gained during this mission will be beneficial for the Indian Human Space Programme, and it will also strengthen human space flight cooperation between ISRO and NASA, ISRO said.
In 2023, the US space agency has signed an agreement with Axiom Space for the fourth private astronaut mission to the ISS to target launch no earlier than August 2024 from the agency’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
Union minister Jitender Singh had earlier this week informed the Lok Sabha that one astronaut will be sent to the space station as part of the ISRO-NASA joint mission.
He also said that astronauts would be one of the four Air Force pilots being trained by the Gaganyaan Mission, who were being trained at ISRO’s Astronauts Training Facility in Bengaluru for the Gaganyaan mission.
“Two out of three semesters of the (Gaganyatri) training programme were completed. Independent training simulators and static mockup simulators (have been) realised,” the minister had informed.
On the vehicle that will put astronauts in space, Jitendra Singh said, “Solid and liquid propulsion stages of a human-rated launch vehicle are ready for flight integration. C32 cryogenic stage is nearing completion. Crew module and service module structure realisation has been completed, and flight integration activities are in progress.”