Astronauts will launch a module on a three-stage rocket after theoretical studies in Bengaluru and simulated zero-gravity training in Russia.
It was the best-kept secret at Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science (IISc), the alma mater of many famous scientists.
Indian Air Force (IAF) test pilots Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Ajit Krishnan, Angad Pratap, and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla hid in labs, watched experiments, and listened to young faculty lectures for two years or more.
Campusmates didn’t know their identify or objective. They even maintained a low profile while socializing with teachers and families in the institute’s area.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi named the four for Gaganyaan, India’s first human space mission, on February 27. Their launch is anticipated for 2024 or 2025. Modi called the astronauts’ introduction at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center in Kerala a “remarkable day” for the space industry.
They started training at Russia’s Gagarin Research & Test Cosmonaut Training Center in February 2020. This follows a 2019 India-Russia agreement on astronaut selection, support, medical screening, and space training. They practiced unconventional landings in woods, rivers, and oceans. Their stay in Russia was prolonged because to the COVID-19 outbreak.
New Delhi has worked with Moscow in space before. The lone Indian astronaut, Group Captain Rakesh Sharma (retired), trained in the Soviet Union. “It’s an ongoing process, so there’s nothing to comment about,” he told RT. “They went to Russia like I did for training, and it will continue.”
Sharma spent over eight days in Salyut 7 in 1984 aboard Soyuz-11.
In July 2023, India inked a second bilateral agreement to recruit and train Gaganyaan astronauts for over $1.31 billion to advance space cooperation with Russia. This agreement establishes an ISRO technical liaison unit in Moscow to implement Gaganyaan and other projects in collaboration with Russian and neighboring space agencies (ISRO would also have such offices in Washington and Paris).
In his book ‘Space and Beyond’, Dr. K. Kasturirangan, former ISRO chairman, sums up Russia’s support of ISRO from its infancy: “The cooperation with the Soviet Union (and later with Russia) covered a varied range, including launches of India’s first satellite (Aryabhata) and subsequent experimental satellites (Bhaskara-I and Bhaskara-2); the orbit of India’s operational satellites.”
One of Kasturirangan’s stories is on Russian space pioneer Sergey Korolev.
Academic Korolev was superstitious and opposed Monday launches. Always carrying two one-kopek coins (the lowest value of Soviet and Russian currency) in his pocket as a talisman, he attended launches. One account says he was worried when he couldn’t locate them when he was hospitalized in January 1966 and died of a heart attack during surgery.
The chosen few
The Indian PM named four pilots ‘vyamonauts’ (‘vyamo’ is Sanskrit for space; ‘nauts’ is Greek for sailors), two of whom will circle the Earth at 400km altitude for two days.
Modi declared the Gaganyaan mission on August 15, 2018, during his Independence Day speech. Sanskrit ‘gagana’ denotes heavenly and ‘yana’ signifies craft or vehicle. The effort began in 2007-08 when $7 million of a $1.77 billion budget was granted to finance early research on Indians entering space on an Indian rocket. Only the Soviet Union, the US, and China have sent people into space on their own spacecraft.
In 2009, the ISRO and the Indian Air Force (IAF) Institute of Aerospace Medicine agreed to perform preliminary study on crew psychological and physiological needs and training facility construction. The institution shaped astronaut training, crew capsule design, and control and environmental systems for psychological and physiological demands.
A year later, in December 2019, four ace IAF test pilots were picked from hundreds of applications for space travel.
The chosen few
Two of the four pilots named ‘vyamonauts’ (‘vyamo’ is Sanskrit for space; ‘nauts’ is Greek for sailors) by the Indian PM will circle the Earth at 400km altitude for two days.
On August 15, 2018, Modi declared the Gaganyaan mission during his Independence Day speech. Gagana means heavenly in Sanskrit, while yana denotes craft or vehicle. The first $7 million of a $1.77 billion budget was given in 2007-08 to finance early research on Indians entering space on an Indian rocket. So far, only the Soviet Union, the US, and China have sent people into space on their own spacecraft.
ISRO and IAF Institute of Aerospace Medicine struck a 2009 agreement to perform basic research on crew psychological and physiological needs and training facility development. For psychological and physiological reasons, the institution determined astronaut training, crew capsule design, and control and environmental systems.
In December 2019, four ace IAF test pilots were picked from hundreds of candidates for the space flight.
The senior test pilot is Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair. Nair, a Cat A Flying Instructor and test pilot with 3,000 hours of experience, was born in Thiruvazhiyad, Kerala, on August 26, 1976. He led a Su-30 MKI squadron at Tezpur and fired the first Brahmos missile by this combat fighter off West Bengal.
He survived a Su-30MKI collision near Pune in June 2018 with flight test engineer Squadron Leader L. Biswal. Both ejected after the fighter plane stalled a few minutes after takeoff from a Hindustan Aeronautics airstrip in Ozar near Nashik.
Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, born in Chennai on April 19, 1982, received the President’s Gold Medal and Sword of Honor at the Air Force Academy as the son of a former IAF sergeant. His IAF fighter stream commissioning was June 21, 2003. The second most experienced pilot after Group Captain Nair, he is an NDA graduate. He was a test pilot and instructor with 2,900 flight hours.
Group Captain Angad Pratap, 42, is a flight instructor and test pilot with 2,000 hours of service. He was born in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, on July 17, 1982. His IAF commissioning date was December 18, 2004, after graduating from the NDA.
Fighter combat commander and test pilot Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla has 2,000 hours of flying experience. Born October 10, 1985, in Lucknow, he joined the NDA and was commissioned by the IAF on June 17, 2006.
The four pilots have flown the Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier, and An-32. All four graduated from the Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE), Bengaluru, and entered IISc’s MTech in a secret arrangement with ISRO to prepare for the space voyage.
The star syllabus
The crew’s lectures took place inside and outside the ISRO’s Astronaut Training Facility near Bengaluru. flying systems, micro-gravity, aeromedical practice, recovery and survival, and flying procedures were taught in addition to theory. Their curriculum was unique, created by ISRO-IISc to turn pilots into astronauts.
These test pilots know everything about aircraft engines but nothing about rockets or the cryogenic engines that power launch vehicles (rockets) throughout various mission stages. They were shown critical engine aspects including performance, operation, and control via calculations, said IISc Department of Aerospace Engineering chairman Prof. Joseph Mathew.
Prof. Mathew stated orbital mechanics, which are essential for the crew capsule’s Earth orbit, were also trained.
He claimed the crew must know how to take control (from automatic to manual) during re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere at the conclusion of the mission when a radio blackout causes excessive capsule heating. This was part of ISRO and IISc’s cooperative syllabus.”
Another senior Aerospace Engineering faculty member, who requested anonymity, claimed several of his colleagues have recognized their engagement in the training program since Tuesday.
Some of our colleagues uploaded WhatsApp photos to show their attendance at Group Captain Nair and (Malayalam film star) Lena’s wedding after she announced it on social media. Now we know who they were with on campus, he said.
Mission on
ISRO will reconfigure its three-stage medium-lift rocket, Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3; formerly GSLV Mark-3) to meet human rating requirements and label it “Human Rated LVM3”, or HLVM3, for the flight, which is likely to occur in 2025, three years after the original 2022 schedule. It will resemble the rocket that launched Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3, among others.
This redesigned rocket will carry the orbital module, which includes a crew module with seats and controls and a service module.
Two of the four pilots presented Tuesday will circle the Earth at 400 km for two days. Five experiments will be conducted during the two-day trip, using instruments designed by the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (Thiruvananthapuram), IIT (Patna), Tata Institute for Fundamental Research (TIFR), JNCASR in Bengaluru, and IICT.
ISRO hopes to fly Gaganyaan-1, a crewless test mission, later this year. ‘Vyommitra’ (meaning “space friend”), a ‘female’ robotic astronaut with motorized hands and limbs, will assess how a person might fare on Gaganyaan without sacrificing life. Late 2024 will see another crewless test flight.
In his account of Indo-Russian space collaboration, Kasturirangan cites President Vladimir Putin: “Thank God, this field of activity is not being influenced by political problems. Therefore, I hope everything develops because it benefits everyone….This sphere combines. I hope this continues.”