News Brief
India’s Astronaut Pool For Future Space Missions To Go Beyond Air Force Personnel; Women, Civilians To Be Included
Four ISRO astronauts for Gaganyaan mission.
India will set up a pool of astronauts for future human spaceflight missions, which will not be restricted to Air Force personnel alone and will include women, officials of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said, The New Indian Express reported.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also announced the plan during his video address on National Space Day, urging youth to join the initiative.
“It has been decided that the astronaut pool will not be restricted to the Air Force alone. It will have people from all walks of life,” a senior ISRO official was quoted as saying in the IE report.
"Globally, if you see, it’s not just researchers but also entrepreneurs who are travelling to space. The decision to include women in the growing astronaut pool has also been taken," the official added.
For the initial Gaganyaan flights, four Indian Air Force test pilots — Group Captains Shubhanshu Shukla, Prashanth Nair, Angad Pratap and Ajith Krishnan — were selected and trained in Russia and India.
The Gaganyaan initiative follows the Prime Minister’s 2018 Independence Day announcement of India’s first human spaceflight mission.
India aims to launch the Gaganyaan mission by 2027, establish the Bharatiya Antariksh Station by 2035, and send astronauts to the Moon by 2040.
PM Modi also highlighted plans to boost India’s launch capacity with private sector participation, targeting 50 rocket launches annually within five years. Since 2020, over 300 space startups have been established in India.
