ISRO, Air Force join hands to select and train 3-member crew for Gaganyaan mission

After unofficial discussion after India's first manned mission to space 'Gaganyaan' was announced by Prime Minister Modi in August 2018, the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) have signed an agreement to carry out the selection and training of crew members on the mission, which is tentatively scheduled for December 2021-January 2022.The IAF tweeted out the news on Wednesday with an image of the Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Ravi Gopal Krishana Kapoor, Assistant Chief of Air Staff Operations (Space), from IAF handing over the MoU (memorandum of understanding) to the Project Director of ISRO's Gaganyaan Programme, R Hutton.The crew will consist of three astronauts, at least one of which will be a woman, as per PM Narendra Modi's announcement of Gaganyaan in his Independence Day Speech in 2018.[caption id="attachment_6731551" align="alignnone" width="1024"]

AVM RGK Kapoor, ACAS Ops (Space), IAF handed over the MoU to Shri R Hutton, Project Director of Gaganyaan Programme. Image credit: Twitter/IAF[/caption]The mission is estimated to cost Rs 9,023 crores. The crew will be on board a modified version of ISRO's GSLV-MkIII heavy rocket and orbit at an altitude of 350-400 km.The selection process will take place over a period of 12-14 months, after which the training will start. The crew will train in ISRO’s headquarters in Bengaluru but there is a possibility of them getting help from foreign agencies.

Before the final manned launch, ISRO will also have 'test runs' in the form of two unmanned missions, one in December 2020, and another in mid-2021. In the planned week-long mission, a three-member crew will orbit the planet and conducting experiments in space for the first time in ISRO's history.The newly-inaugurated Human Space Flight centre in Bengaluru is home to end-to-end planning for the Gaganyaan project. It is also looking into the development of engineering systems for crew survival in space, crew selection & training and also pursue activities for sustained human space flight missions.