Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Air Force has been chosen as the lead astronaut for the Indo-US mission to the ISS.
For its Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station (ISS), Axiom Space Inc., USA, and the Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) of ISRO have agreed into a Space Flight Agreement (SFA).
For this mission, two Gaganyatris have been recommended as the prime and backup mission pilots by the National Mission Assignment Board.
Among them are Group Captains Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair (Backup) and Shubhanshu Shukla (Prime).
The Multilateral Crew Operations Panel (MCOP) will ultimately grant the allocated crew members permission to travel to the International Space Station.
The Gaganyaan project aims to send a three-person crew into a 400-kilometer orbit in order to demonstrate human spaceflight capability.
Gaganyaan project envisages launching them under a 3-day mission and bringing back to earth, by landing in Indian sea waters.
The Gaganyaan mission is India’s first human space flight program.
The Gaganyaan mission will be launched by an LVM3 rocket.
India’s current aims are to launch the first Indian astronaut to the moon by 2040 and establish “Bharatiya Antariksha Station” by 2035.
