Gaganyaan (,, from Sanskrit: , "celestial" and , "craft, vehicle") is an Indian crewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the formative spacecraft of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. The spacecraft is being designed to carry three people to low Earth orbit, and a planned upgraded version will be equipped with rendezvous and docking capabilities.
In its maiden crewed mission, ISRO's largely autonomous capsule will orbit the Earth at altitude for up to seven days with a two- or three-person crew on board. The first crewed mission was originally planned to be launched on ISRO's human-rated LVM3 rocket (HLVM3) in December 2021. As of November 2024, it is expected to be launched no earlier than 2027.
The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)-manufactured crew module underwent its first uncrewed experimental flight in 2014; design of the crew module was completed in 2019. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) provides life support systems including space food, crew healthcare, radiation measurement and protection, module parachutes, and the fire suppression system.
The Gaganyaan project is led by V. R. Lalithambika, the former Director of the Directorate of the Human Spaceflight Programme with ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan and A. Rajarajan, Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. Imtiaz Ali Khan superseded V. R. Lalithambika as the Director of the Directorate of Human Spaceflight Programme.
Background Like the Chandrayaan and other extraterrestrial missions, the Indian space programme began with no intentions of undertaking sophisticated initiatives like human spaceflight. It was only after ISRO developed extensive launch capabilities when human spaceflight was being considered in the late 2000s. In August 2007, the then Chairman of the ISRO, G. Madhavan Nair, revealed that the agency was "seriously considering" the creation of a human spaceflight programme. He further indicated that, ISRO would report on its development of new space capsule technologies within a year. Later in the 2010s, the development of LVM3 enabled ISRO to pursue the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme with Gaganyaan, the first crewed spacecraft of India.
Soviet-India Cooperation Although the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) did not pursue an independent human-spaceflight programme during the 20th century, it participated in a joint mission under Soviet Union's Interkosmos programme, where Indian Air Force pilot Rakesh Sharma was selected and trained for spaceflight in cooperation with the Soviet space program.
On 3 April 1984, Sharma became the first Indian-born citizen to enter space when he flew aboard the Soviet Soyuz T-11, launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (now Kazakhstan). The Soyuz T-11 spacecraft carrying cosmonauts including Sharma docked and transferred the three member Soviet-Indian international crew, consisting of the ship's commander, Yury Malyshev, and flight engineer, Gennadi Strekalov, to the Salyut 7 Orbital Station. Sharma spent 7days, 21hours, and 40minutes aboard the Salyut 7, during which he conducted an Earth observation focused on the Indian subcontinent. He also did life sciences and materials processing experiments, including silicium fusing tests.
The mission provided India with early operational and scientific exposure to human spaceflight, contributing foundational experience that would inform ISRO's later ambitions in crewed space missions. To commemorate the occasion, the governments of India and the Soviet Union released special stamps and first day covers.
Spacecraft history Preliminary studies and technological development of Gaganyaan capsule started in 2006 under the generic name "Orbital Vehicle". The plan was to design a simple capsule with an endurance of about a week in space, a capacity of two astronauts, and a splashdown landing after re-entry. The project was commissioned in 2007, with expected completion by 2024 and a budget of around ₹10,000 crore. The spacecraft design was finalized by March 2008 and was submitted to the Government of India for funding under ISRO's human spaceflight programme, which was sanctioned in February 2009, but fell short due to limited developmental funding. Initially, the first uncrewed flight of the orbital vehicle was proposed to be in 2013, then it was revised to 2016. However, in April 2012, it was reported that funding problems placed the future of the project in serious doubt. And in August 2013, it was announced that all crewed spaceflight efforts by India had been designated as being "off ISRO's priority list". By early 2014, the project had been reconsidered and was one of the main beneficiaries of a substantial budget increase announced in February 2014.
Space Capsule Recovery Experiment
ISRO developed the Gaganyaan orbital vehicle based on the tests performed with their scaled experimental spacecraft from Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE), which was launched and recovered in January 2007.China View: India's first space capsule returns to earth, 22 January 2007ISRO Press Release 22 January 2007 In SRE, an experimental capsule that had been in orbit earlier splashed into the Bay of Bengal after descending from a height of . The purpose of the mission was to test reusable thermal protection system, management of communication blackout, guidance, navigation and control, hypersonic aero-thermodynamics, braking system, deceleration system, flotation devices and recovery procedures.
Cabinet approval The push for the Indian Human Spaceflight Program, which included the Gaganyaan spacecraft, took place in 2017. It was accepted and formally announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his 2018 Independence Day address to the nation.Indian will take national flag to space on board Gaganyaan by 2022, says PM Narendra Modi in Independence Day speech Hindustan Times, 15 August 2018 The programme was approved by the Union Cabinet on 28 December 2018. The design in 2022 called for a crew of three. ISRO was set to perform four biological and two physical science experiments related to microgravity during the first Gaganyaan mission. Hydrazine was planned to be replaced with green propellant on Gaganyaan missions, for which the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) was already working on a monopropellant blended formulation consisting of hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN), ammonium nitrate, methanol and water as of 2021.
Delays
Many of the fundamental technologies were realized by ISRO by the time IHSP was approved by the Union Cabinet. After receiving approval, many of them were human-rated to make sure their dependability satisfied the requirements needed for human spaceflight. Space Capsule Recovery Experiment II (SRE-2), an extension of the 2007 SRE mission, was canceled in 2018 as a result of excessive delays. In a reply to the Rajya Sabha on February 13, 2025, Minister of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh Rana stated the COVID-19 pandemic was the main reason of the delay, slowing down the production of avionics components and disrupting the supply chain. Unreliable raw material deliveries caused by supply chain failures, and a worldwide scarcity of space-grade components caused delays in the manufacturing and assembly of mission critical hardware. The project timeframe was extended for extra validation missions and crew safety tests to guarantee the highest standards of safety for astronauts. It necessitated further testing and improvements. To keep the orbital module's total mass within the HLVM3 launcher's lifting capabilities, the design had to be modified, which increased the complexity and engineering time. Delays in the necessary comprehensive study and testing were also caused by the indigenous development of the life support system.
Funding and project expansion A crewed spacecraft was projected to require about 12,400 crore (US$1.77 billion) over a period of seven years, including the 5,000 crore (US$0.7 billion) for the initial work of the crewed spacecraft during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007–2012) out of which the Government released 50 crore (US$7 million) in 2007–2008. In December 2018, the government approved a further 10,000 crore (US$1.5 billion) for a 7-day crewed flight of 3 astronauts to take place by 2021.
Expanding the scope of the Gaganyaan initiative, the Union Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved on September 18, 2024, the development of the BAS-01 Base Module. The launch of the BAS-1 unit is one of the eight missions that are now part of the redesigned Indian Human-spaceflight Programme, which is scheduled for completion by December 2028. Hardware requirements and more unmanned flights are part of this expansion, which is meant to supplement the continuing human spaceflight programs. The Gaganyaan initiative has received an extra in financing to support its expanded scope, bringing the total budget to . With four missions under the ongoing Human-spaceflight programme scheduled by 2026, the development of the BAS-1 module and four additional missions for technology demonstration and validation by 2028, the programme aims to develop and demonstrate critical technologies for long-duration human space missions.
Infrastructure and support Madhavan Chandradathan, director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), stated that ISRO would need to set up an astronaut training facility in Bengaluru. In spring 2009, the full-scale mock-up of the crew capsule of Gaganyaan was built and delivered to Satish Dhawan Space Center for the training of astronauts. The newly established Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) will coordinate the IHSF efforts. Existing launch facilities will be upgraded for launches under the Indian Human Spaceflight project. With extra facilities needed for launch escape systems. Russia is likely to provide astronaut training in the early phase, and first batch of astronauts had already returned from their exchange in Russian cosmonaut center in the 2020s.
India has already successfully developed and tested several building blocks, including re-entry space capsule, pad abort test, safe crew ejection mechanism in case of rocket failure, a flight suit developed by Defence Bioengineering and Electromedical Laboratory (DEBEL) and the powerful LVM3 launch vehicle. Having met all required technological keystones, the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme was accepted and formally announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 August 2018. Gaganyaan will be the first crewed spacecraft under this programme. To begin the training of doctors and engineers for space mission, Brigitte Godard, a flight surgeon affiliated with the European Space Agency, traveled to India in 2018. In 2021, ISRO established a temporary ground station for the Gaganyaan mission in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, following an extended dialogue with the Australian Space Agency. ISRO has plans to build a permanent ground station for the project there. Tracking antennae will be supplied by ESA to keep an eye on the Gaganyaan spacecraft while it is in orbit.
In February 2024, IIT Kanpur built and evaluated the Hypervelocity Expansion Tunnel Test Facility, referred to as S2, in the Department of Aerospace Engineering's Hypersonic Experimental Aerodynamics Laboratory (HEAL). Extreme hypersonic conditions of atmospheric entry can be replicated at the S2 facility. It is anticipated that the facility will support Gaganyaan.
Description
Gaganyaan Crew Module