ISRO Chief V Narayanan announced that the first Gaganyaan test mission will launch in December during a press conference on August 21. This mission is part of Gaganyaan 2025, India's first planned human spaceflight mission. The event was chaired by Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh and attended by ISRO Chairman Dr. V. Narayanan. For the first time, the selected Indian astronauts, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and Group Captain Prashant B. Nair, interacted with the media.
Saare Jahaan se achcha
Shubhanshu Shukla said that India looks "saare jahaan se achcha" (better than the entire world) even today, echoing the famous words first used by Indian astronaut Rakesh Sharma after his space mission in 1984.
Ram-Lakshman analogy
Group Captain Prasanth B. Nair, a member of India's Gaganyaan crew, drew a parallel to the Hindu epic Ramayana. He said, "A few months from now, we are going to have Diwali. That is the time when Ram ji entered Ayodhya. If I can call myself Lakshman here... even though I am older than 'Shuks' (Shukla), I would love to be Lakshman to this Ram any day".
He continued, "But let's remember, Ram and Lakshman got a lot of help from the entire 'vanar sena'—that is our fantastic ISRO team. Without them, it would not have been possible".
Learnings from Axiom 4
Reflecting on his experience with the Axiom-4 mission, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla said that the benefits of a human space mission go beyond the training itself. He stated that the supplementary knowledge gained just from being there is invaluable and that all the information he has collected over the past year will be extremely useful for India's own missions, Gaganyaan and the Bharatiya Antariksh Station.
He added that soon, India would be sending its own astronauts from its own soil, using its own capsule and rocket. Shukla also noted that the experience in space is vastly different from what is learned on the ground, as the human body undergoes many changes. After spending 20 days in space, the body "forgets how to live in gravity".
Upcoming ISRO missions
ISRO Chairman V Narayanan provided insights into the space agency's ongoing and upcoming projects. He stated that the GSLV-F16 rocket successfully placed the prestigious NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite on July 30. This satellite, a joint venture between NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and ISRO, is functioning perfectly. He added that in the next two to three months, ISRO will launch a 6500 kg communication satellite for the USA using one of their launch vehicles.
Space tech role in national security
When discussing the role of space technology in national security and Operation Sindoor, MoS Earth Sciences and Space Jitendra Singh stated, "Our space missions are much more cost-effective compared to their counterparts elsewhere".
He explained that the entire warfare during Operation Sindoor was a combination of space technology and the Department of Atomic Energy, with all the technology adopted within the last 10-11 years. According to him, Operation Sindoor provided an opportunity to test India's capabilities on Pakistani soil.
ALSO READ:
Indian scientists prevented 'catastrophic' rocket failure on Axiom-4 mission: ISRO chief
NASA's Webb Telescope spots hidden, tiny Moon orbiting Uranus
