India's Human Spaceflight Mission 'Gaganyaan' On Track For December 2024 Test Flight

India's ambitious human space mission 'Gaganyaan' is moving closer to its first test flight, which is expected to take place in December 2024.

Speaking to the media after the successful launch of India's earth observation satellite-08 (EOS-08) onboard SSLV-D3, ISRO chairman S Somanath said,"The Gaganyaan rocket's three stages have come to Satish Dhawan Space Centre. The integration of the crew module is happening at VSSC (Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram)."

Somanath further explained that all components of the Gaganyaan rocket, codenamed G1, are expected to arrive at Satish Dhawan Space Centre by November this year, with the first test flight scheduled for December, news agency IANS reported.

Earlier on Friday (16 August) morning, ISRO's new Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) successfully launched two satellites, EOS-08 and SR-0, with the latter belonging to the space start-up Space Rickshaw.

This marked the third and final development flight of the SSLV.

"We can declare the process of SSLV development has been completed. We are in the process of transferring the SSLV technology to the industries," Somanath said.

The rocket technology will now be transferred to the private Industry and the NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), a PSU under the Department of Space, for commercial missions.

Somanath said the SSLV design has been kept simple for the industry to make it.

The SSLV, which was designed and developed by ISRO, has a payload capacity of 500 kg and runs on solid fuel.

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