According to the report, India will start a series of flight tests for its first manned spaceflight in February next year, R Umamaheshwaran, director of the Human Space Flight Center of the Indian Space Research Organization, said at the Indian Space Conference in New Delhi.
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India plans to use “Chinook” helicopters and C-17A transport aircraft to test the crew cabin. As part of the Gaganyaan manned spaceflight program, the crew module will send astronauts into orbit for three days as part of the Gaganyaan manned spaceflight mission.
Speaking at the Indian Space Congress, he said that ISRO scientists have completed the design of an environmental control system that will ensure astronauts provide stable environmental living conditions for the crew service module while orbiting the Earth.
ISRO plans to conduct at least 17 different tests next year, ahead of an uncrewed space flight in December. India established the Gaganyaan mission on Independence Day in 2018, and the initial goal is to achieve this goal in 2022 because this year happens to be the 75th anniversary of India’s liberation from colonial rule.
However, due to the epidemic and other reasons, may time delayed, the goal is now for the first spaceflight in late 2024 or early 2025. R Umamaheshwaran said designing the crew capsule and environmental control system was a challenging task, as the astronauts should be as comfortable as possible even during the re-entry phase when the temperature outside the capsule could exceed 2,000 degrees celsius.
“The crew module that the astronauts will be flying in is complete, and manufacturing is underway. We’ll see it in six months,” he said on the sidelines of an event organized by the Satellite Communications Industry Association.
“We have to supply oxygen, get rid of carbon dioxide, maintain humidity and temperature, and at the same time make sure there is no fire hazard. It’s a very complex technology and no country will give it to us for nothing.”
“We have the ability to design, so we’re doing it, and it’s just going to take a little bit of time. We’ve done all the design, and now it’s time to prove that whatever is designed is safe enough. That’s what we’re working on.”
