Gaganyaan: India's first manned space mission to be launched in 40 months
28th August, 2018Category: Science and Technology
India would launch its first human space mission, Gaganyaan, in 40 months from now and will send three astronauts into space before India celebrates its 75th Independence day in 2022. the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman, K Sivan, told that the entire mission would cost the exchequer less than Rs 10,000 crore. As per current plan, an Indian astronaut would be stationed in low earth orbit at an altitude of 400 km from earth for 5-7 days during which they will conduct microgravity experiments. The flight would take 16 minutes to reach its orbit and the descent would take 36 minutes.
The Gaganyaan mission was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address. So far, only three countries; the US, Russia and China, have successfully launched manned space missions.
According to the ISRO chief, the Gaganyaan mission would create 15,000 new employment opportunities, 13,000 of them in private industry and the space organisation would need an additional manpower of 900.
Longer duration of descent is given to avoid heating up while heading back to earth.
Read More: The Economic Times, Business Standard, The Hindu Business Line, India Today