The launch of the first unmanned mission of Gaganyaan has been scheduled to take place in December 2021, shared Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman. Owing to the pandemic, the mission was originally slated for December 2020 but eventually, the government had to delay it.
As part of Gaganyaan, India’s manned space mission, Sitharaman in her speech shared that four Indian astronauts are being currently trained on generic space flight aspects in Russia. “The first unmanned launch is slated for December 2021,” Sitharaman said.
The Rs 10,000 crore Gaganyaan mission aims to send a three-member crew to space for a period of five to seven days by 2022 when India completes 75 years of independence. The ISRO had started planning for the mission accordingly. The first unmanned mission was planned for December 2020, the second unmanned mission in June 2021.
The final and the main component, the manned mission of Gaganyaan, was scheduled six months later in December 2021, much before the 2022 deadline. ISRO had earlier indicated that there would be a delay in several missions as the space body’s work has been hit by disruptions due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Among the major projects that have been affected are Chandrayaan-3 and Gaganyaan. Chandrayaan-3, the third mission to the moon, was scheduled in late 2020. Staff members from ISRO’s different centers were infected with COVID-19 during the pandemic and only essential and process-related work was going on. The related industry was also affected due to the coronavirus lockdown.