India planning to have own space station

India is planning to launch its own space station, ISRO chief K Sivan said Thursday. The ambitious project will be an extension of the Gaganyaan mission.

The ambitious project will be an extension of the Gaganyaan mission. Photo: AFP

BENGALURU: India is planning to launch its own space station, ISRO chief K Sivan said Thursday. The ambitious project will be an extension of the Gaganyaan mission. "We have to sustain the Gaganyaan programme after the launch of (the) human space mission. In this context, India is planning to have its own space station," Sivan told reporters here. Meanwhile, India's second sojourn to the moon, Chandrayaan-2, would be launched on July 15, Indian Space Research Organisation announced Wednesday, as it is all set for the most complex mission ever undertaken by it. Under the nearly Rs 1,000 crore mission, the landing on the moon near the South Pole would be on September 6 or 7 on an uncharted territory, Sivan had said on Wednesday. The Lander, named after the father of the Indian space programme, Vikram Sarabhai, will touch down on a rugged lunar surface in the final descent, which, according to Sivan, would be the "most terrifying moment" of the mission. "This 15 minutes is going to be terrifying to all of us not only people from ISRO, but for entire India, because the space agency has never undertaken such type of complex flight. This 15 minutes flight is the most complex mission ISRO has ever undertaken," he said. The landing site, at about 70 degrees south latitude, is the southernmost for any mission, not attempted before by any country, according to ISRO, as the Indian space agency eyed an ambitious feat after missing many dates. The launch would take place at 2.51 am on board the GSLV MK-III vehicle, the heaviest rocket built by ISRO, from the spaceport of Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The ISRO had earlier kept the launch window for the mission from July 9 to July 16. Soft-landing on the south pole of the moon, a territory that has never been visited by any spacecraft, is considered the most challenging part of the mission. (With inputs from PTI)