THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The mother ship of India's first unmanned space flight under the Gaganyaan programme is getting ready at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bengaluru. The unmanned flight is scheduled to be launched in December this year. The spacecraft, which can carry three passengers in space for seven days, weighs 3735 kilograms. The technical facilities on the spacecraft are being developed by the Defense Research Agency, DRDO.

Vyommitra, a humanoid robot which will be sent into space as part of the Gaganyaan programme, is also being developed at the Inertial Systems unit in Vattiyoorkavu, Thiruvananthapuram. Two test launches of the unmanned spacecraft into orbit must be completed before December.

Unmanned launch

• No date has been set
• GSLV Mark III rocket will be deployed for the launch from Satish Dhawan Center, Sriharikota
• The spacecraft is in orbit in the 16th minute.
• Will return to the Bay of Bengal after seven days.
• Prior to that the service module and solar panels will be disassembled
• Will land slowly using a parachute

The four selected from the Air Force after rigorous examinations have completed the first phase of training in Russia. The training had to be stopped due to COVID-induced lockdown. The one-year training began on February 10 at the Russian space agency Roscosmos. Three of them will go into space on Gaganyaan.

Vyommitra robot will replace the astronauts in test launches. The robot, which comes under the Half-humanoid category, will test the efficiency of life-saving facilities on the spacecraft.