Gaganyaan

Gaganyaan (Sanskrit: "sky craft") is the Indian Space Research Organisation's flagship human spaceflight programme, approved by the Union Cabinet in December 2018 with an initial outlay of ₹10,000 crore, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the goal of an Indian crewed mission in his Independence Day address of 15 August 2018. The mission objective is to demonstrate India's indigenous capability to launch a crew of three astronauts into a low Earth orbit roughly 400 km above the surface for a mission of up to three days and recover them safely after splashdown in Indian waters. Success would make India the fourth nation — after the Soviet Union/Russia, the United States, and China — to independently achieve human orbital spaceflight. The programme is implemented by ISRO's Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC), established at Bengaluru in 2019.

The mission architecture rests on the human-rated LVM3 launch vehicle (formerly GSLV Mk III), redesignated HLVM3, carrying an Orbital Module comprising a Crew Module (the habitable, pressurised cabin with a re-entry heat shield) and a Service Module (housing propulsion, power and life support). A critical safety feature is the Crew Escape System (CES), a set of quick-acting solid-fuel motors that can pull the crew module away from the launch vehicle during any contingency from the launch pad through ascent. Astronaut training has involved cooperation with Russia's Glavkosmos; four Indian Air Force test pilots were selected as designated astronaut-candidates, and on 27 February 2024 Prime Minister Modi publicly named the four — Group Captains Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Ajit Krishnan, Angad Pratap and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla.

The programme proceeds through uncrewed precursor flights before any human mission. The TV-D1 (Test Vehicle Demonstration) flight on 21 October 2023 successfully validated the Crew Escape System and crew module parachute recovery from the sea. ISRO also operates the half-humanoid robot Vyommitra, intended to fly on an uncrewed mission to test systems. As of early 2026, the first uncrewed orbital flight (G1) carrying Vyommitra is targeted, with the crewed flight to follow; ISRO has indicated the human mission around 2026–2027. Gaganyaan is conceived as a stepping stone toward the broader vision of an Indian space station — the Bharatiya Antariksh Station — by 2035 and an Indian crewed lunar landing by 2040, goals announced by the government in October 2023. Notably, Shubhanshu Shukla flew to the International Space Station on the Axiom Mission 4 in 2025, gaining operational human-spaceflight experience.

For the UPSC examination, Gaganyaan is a high-frequency topic in the General Studies Paper III science-and-technology segment and in Prelims current-affairs questions. Candidates should master the named components (HLVM3, Crew Escape System, Crew Module, Service Module, Vyommitra), the chronology of approval (2018) and the TV-D1 test (2023), the four named astronauts, and the linkage to India's wider space roadmap including the Bharatiya Antariksh Station (2035) and crewed Moon landing (2040). Questions often pair Gaganyaan with strategic autonomy, indigenous capability, and India's standing as a space power.