Covid delayed space mission Gaganyaan's timeline: ISRO chief

New Delhi, Jan 25:  Newly-appointed ISRO chairman S. Somanath on Tuesday said that there had been a delay in the timeline of space mission Gaganyaan because of the Covid and other constraints but now, things have again fallen back on track and all the systems needed for the first unmanned mission are getting realised.

He was updating Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh during a meeting discussing the status of 'Gaganyaan' as well as other space missions lined up for the near future.

Following the first unmanned mission, the second unmanned mission "Vyommitra" will carry a robot and this will then be followed by the human mission, he told the minister.

The minister was also informed that the Indian astronauts have successfully undergone generic space flight training in Russia.

A dedicated ad-hoc astronaut training centre has also been established at Bengaluru for Gaganyan specific training.

The preparations for the human mission, said the ISRO Chief, involve in-flight demonstration of Crew Escape System functioning in the lower atmosphere (less than 10 km). The exercise recovery of the crew module after impacting in sea is also being worked out.

In 2022, ISRO will also have the distinction of launching GSAT-21, the first fully funded satellite of NSIL (New Space India Ltd), and will be owned as well as operated by NSIL.

This communication satellite will meet the DTH (Direct to Home) application needs.

The ISRO Chairman presented at brief about the forthcoming missions during the next three months. He mentioned a RICAT-1A PSLV C5-2 scheduled for February, OCEANSAT-3, INS 2B ANAND PSLV C-53 to be launched in March, and SSLV-D1 Micro SAT in April.