Gaganyaan: Here's how ISRO's astronauts trained for India's first ever human space flight

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set for the first test vehicle abort mission or TV-D1 as part of the Gaganyaan – India’s first human spaceflight programme. The flight test is slated for Saturday (21 October) at 8 am from Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota. ISRO’s ambitious Gaganyaan mission aims to send humans to space for a three-day mission and safely mark their return to Earth, by landing in Indian sea waters. India’s astronaut candidates have been undergoing rigorous training for the Gaganyaan programme for the past few years. Four astronauts selected for the Gaganyaan have been undergoing mission specific training at the Astronaut Training Facility in Bengaluru. As per The Hindu report, these astronauts completed the first semester of crew training in March this year. By then, they had also finished a total of 39 weeks of training activities, the report added.

According to TOI, these four participants were picked from among 60 IAF test pilots. Of these, 12 had cleared the “Level-1” selection conducted by IAF’s Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM). The final four candidates were shortlisted in 2019. The identity of these selected IAF pilots have so far been kept secret. These astronauts have been taking theoretical courses, physical fitness training, simulator training and flight suit training. The ISRO and Indian Institute of Science faculty have given the candidates over 200 lectures, while the likely crew members have also participated in 75 physical training sessions. In 2020, they were sent to Russia where they finished generic space flight training at Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre.

After their return to India the following year, they kicked off their training here. The mission specific training in India consists of theoretical courses in engineering disciplines and training on the Gaganyaan flight system, aero-medical training, recovery and survival training, and micro-gravity familiarisation through parabolic flights. As per ISRO, periodical flying practice and yoga are also part of the training curriculum. The theoretical courses on engineering disciplines include understanding the basics of spaceflight, propulsion, aerodynamics, as well as courses on launch vehicles and spacecraft, reported The Hindu. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to Washington in June, India and the United States announced plans to enhance space cooperation, which included a joint ISRO-NASA effort to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2024. The joint statement at the time had said NASA would provide “advanced training” to Indian astronauts at one of its facilities.