The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced further tests to its planned first maiden human spaceflight, Gaganyaan, in 2024, with the first abort mission to be conducted at the end of August.
“For Gaganyaan, the first and foremost thing is that the abort mission has to be done. For that, we have made a rocket called a test vehicle, ready at Sriharikota. Assemblies of the crew module and crew escape system are just getting ready,” ISRO chief S. Somanath told reporters on Thursday.
Speaking more about the Gaganyaan mission, the ISRO chief said that at the beginning of 2024, “we will have the unmanned mission to the orbit. And from there, it has to be brought back safely, which will be the third mission.”
Somnath stressed that human safety is paramount and that ISRO adds two more things: first the crew escape system. It means if a contingency is developed in the rocket, the system should get activated. The second is the integrated vehicle health management system.