'Gaganyaan Astronauts to visit Russia for training'- K Sivan

With the new year setting in, the Indian Space Research Organisation on Wednesday held its first press briefing for the year and informed the media about the work undertaken by the space organisation in 2019 and its aims and objectives for the year ahead in 2020. 

During the address to the media, ISRO Chairman K Sivan spoke about the organisation's mort ambitious and India's very first Human Spaceflight Programme Gaganyaan. Sivan stated that the year ahead was going to be eventful for ISRO as the organisation will test the Gaganyaan.

"4 people have been selected from the Indian Air force to go onboard Gaganyaan and will be sent to Russia for training," Sivan stated while talking about the 4 astronauts of the mission. 

Informing about the status of India's first manned mission to space, ISRO Chief said, " Gaganyaan needs to be tested before flight. Right from the test vehicle, airdrop tests are required. All of these activities will be done this year along with the crew training."

READ | Gaganyaan astronauts, second spaceport, Chandrayaan-3: Why ISRO says 2020 will be eventful

'2020 will be an eventful year for ISRO'- Sivan 

Citing that 2020 will be an eventful year for ISRO, K Sivan informed about the government giving its approval for Chandrayaan-3 which will entail an expenditure of Rs 615 crore. 

The agency stated that it is targetting its launch by 2020 or 2021 as the project required 14-16 months for completion. "Chandrayan -3 has been approved by the government and the work on the project is going on very smoothly,"  K Sivan said.

"Chandrayan 3 will have a lander, rover and a propulsion model. No new orbiter will be exclusively made for Chandrayan-3, as it will use Chandrayan 2's orbiter which is already located in the orbit," Sivan added. He also stated that Chandrayaan-3 will not affect other scheduled programs of ISRO. 

Adding further about the expansion of ISRO, Chairman Sivan stated that ISRO under its expansion drive has set up 6 incubation centres that were not there earlier. ISRO also announced that it will be launching 5 PSLVs in the coming year.

READ | Gaganyaan: ISRO's target to send an astronaut into space by 2021

What is Gaganyaan?

Gaganyaan is ISRO's first crewed space mission with a deadline of 2021, set by PM Modi during his Independence Day speech on August 15. ISRO aims to send a 3-member crew to orbit and safely return to the Earth after a mission duration of up to seven days by 2021. With Gaganyaan India can be the fourth country to send a manned mission to space after Russia (then USSR), the US and China.

Before sending a crew into space, ISRO plans to send two unmanned missions into the orbit - first one in 2020 and the second one in 2021. The entire mission is estimated to approximately cost about Rs.10,000 crore. Gaganyaan was first conceptualized in 2004.

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