The four Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots, now the employees of the Indian Space Research Organisation, have completed their training for the Gaganyaan mission in Russia and will soon start with the mission-specific training that will happen in multiple Indian cities.

ISRO Chairman Dr K Sivan confirmed that the astronauts had returned recently, according to a report published in Times of India.

Training in Russia was generic, and their Gaganyaan-specific training will be done in Chennai and Bengaluru, Sivan added.

The training for conditions and reactions specific to Gaganyaan will be held in Bengaluru, and the buoyancy and water survival test will happen at the National Institute of Ocean Technology, NIOT Chennai.

Sivan added that the Indian module of training would be of longer duration than the Russian one. The astronaut-elects need to be an expert in the system in the launch vehicle, flight system, and safety instruments, which is crucial.

In addition to Gaganyaan specific training in Indian conditions, medical, psychological and advanced simulation training modules will happen as well. Psychological training is required to manage stress and live in a zero-gravity environment.

Centrifuge tests will be done in the Institute of Aerospace Medicine, while physical and stimulator training will happen in ISRO Satellite Integration and Testing Establishment (ISITE) in Bengaluru.

ISRO will be developing or procuring new simulators that will help provide advanced training to astronaut-elects.

Sivan further added that astronauts would have a regular schedule of aircraft flying to keep them active.