One Gaganyan Astronaut To Travel To International Space Station In Joint ISRO-NASA Mission: Minister Jitendra Singh

Union Minister Jitendra Singh stated that ISRO had signed a Space Flight Agreement with American firm Axiom Space (identified by NASA) for the joint mission to the International Space Station.

Minister of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh told the Lok Sabha that one of the four astronauts, who are undergoing training for the Gaganyan mission, will travel to the International Space Station as part of a joint mission with United State's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In a written reply, Singh stated that NASA has identified Axiom Space, a private entity, and that ISRO had signed a Space Flight Agreement with the American firm for the mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

The announcement about the India-US joint mission, slated to be launched in 2024, was made by President Joe Biden during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US last year. 

Earlier this year, India's Astronaut Selection Board had selected four astronauts from the Indian Air Force for the Gaganyaan mission, which is India's first human space flight, planned to take place in 2025.

"All four astronauts have undergone training on a spaceflight basic module in Russia. Currently, astronauts are undergoing training at ISRO's Astronauts Training Facility (ATF) in Bengaluru for the Gaganyaan Mission," Singh said.

The minister also said that two out of three semesters of the Gaganyatri training programme had been completed and that the static mockup simulators and independent training simulators had been realised.

Singh Updates Lok Sabha On Gaganyan Mission

Updating the House on the Gaganyan mission, Singh stated that the ground testing of propulsion systems stages, including solid, liquid and cryogenic engine, towards human rating of the launch vehicle has been completed, PTI reported.

"Design and realisation of five types of crew escape system solid motors has been completed," he said.

Singh further stated that the five types of solid motors had gone through their static testing. "Also, the first Test Vehicle mission (TV-D1) for performance validation of crew escape system and parachute deployment has been successfully accomplished," he added.

Singh also mentioned that the crew module designs and structure of the service module had been completed. Besides this, several parachute systems had been tested through integrated main parachute airdrop test and rail track rocket sledge tests, he said.

The minister also told Lok Sabha that the ground test programme towards the Crew Module Propulsion System's human rating had been completed, and that the Service Module Propulsion System test programme was also nearing completion.

He further wrote that the characterisation of the Thermal Protection System had been completed.

"Critical ground facilities such as Orbital Module Preparation Facility (OMPF), Astronaut Training Facility (ATF) and Oxygen Testing Facility have been operationalized and works on the Mission Control Centre (MCC) facilities and establishment of Ground Station networks were nearing completion," Singh said.

The minister said that the C32 cryogenic stage was nearing completion andthe solid and liquid propulsion stages of human-rated launch vehicle was ready for flight integration.

"The crew module and service module structure realization has been completed and flight integration activities were in progress," he added.