If Gaganyaan succeeds, two Malayali astronauts could greet each other in space

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Malayalis are looking forward to a historic moment in space, when NASA astronaut Anil Menon, the first Malayali to travel to space aboard a Russian mission to the International Space Station (ISS), could potentially greet Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, the Malayali astronaut selected for ISRO's Gaganyaan mission.

ISRO has indicated that the Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission, which will carry three Indian astronauts, is likely to be launched early next year. If the mission goes ahead as planned, such a meeting in space could become a reality. However, ISRO has not yet announced an official launch date.

Anil Menon, who is part of NASA's crew heading to the International Space Station on July 14, is expected to return to Earth in April, after spending about eight months aboard the orbiting laboratory.

The Gaganyaan spacecraft will orbit the Earth at an altitude of around 400 kilometres, which is similar to the orbit of the International Space Station. As a result, there could be moments when the two spacecraft pass each other in orbit.

Four Indian Air Force officers have been selected as astronaut-designates for the Gaganyaan mission: Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Group Captain Angad Pratap, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, and Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla. Three of them will be chosen for the mission. Shubhanshu Shukla has already travelled to the International Space Station under India's collaboration with the American private space company Axiom Space. As the Gaganyaan mission was delayed, the astronauts who had completed their training have since returned to their respective services while awaiting the launch.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Gaganyaan programme during his Independence Day address in 2018. The original plan was to send an Indian astronaut into space from Indian soil by 2022. However, the mission was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and several technical challenges. One of the biggest challenges has been developing India's own systems to safely support human life in space, including life-support equipment and advanced control systems.

Before sending astronauts into space, ISRO plans to launch the Gaganyaan-1 uncrewed test mission later this year. The mission was initially scheduled for last year but was postponed following two unexpected failures involving the PSLV launch vehicle. For the Gaganyaan mission, ISRO has developed a human-rated LVM3 launch vehicle. The crew module is being built at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram, while the service module is being developed at the U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC) in Bengaluru. Once Gaganyaan is successfully completed, India will join the select group of nations capable of independently sending humans into space.