PM Modi bestowed the astronaut wings and introduced these four astronauts-elects for the country’s maiden manned space mission. Group Captain Prashanth Nair, Group Captain Angad Prathap, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla. All four, short-listed four years ago, are Indian Air Force (IAF) test pilots from Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) in Bengaluru.
PM Modi, who is on a short visit to Kerala, visited the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center (VSSC) in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram where he reviewed the progress of the Gaganyaan Mission. He was accompanied by Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, union minister Muraleedharan, and ISRO chairman S. Somanath.
The Gaganyaan mission is India's first manned space mission, aiming for a launch between 2024-2025. The project envisages launching a crew of three humans into an orbit of 400 km for a three-day mission and bringing them back safely to Earth by landing in Indian sea waters. This will be India's first space mission in which astronauts will be taken to space in low orbit for some time. Gaganyaan mission will be launched in 2025 under which two to three astronauts will be sent into space in a low orbit of 400 kilometers.
Who are the 4 astronauts?
Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair: Group Captain Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair is from Kerala who was trained in Russia for the human space-flight mission. He graduated from the National Defence Academy and joined the Air Force as a commissioned officer in 1999, as per a report in the Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi. He is a fighter pilot who flies Sukhoi warplanes, it added. He is a native of Palakkad who graduated with the top rank from the US Air Command and Staff College in Alabama. Besides training in Russia, he has trained in Bengaluru’s Human Space Flight Centre as well.
Ajit Krishnan: Group Captain Ajit Krishnan is among the four people picked to be a part of the mission. As per reports, three of the four crew members would ultimately be selected to go on the space mission.
Angad Prathap: Group Captain Angad Prathap has trained along with the other three members of the group in Russia for 13 months, as per ISRO.
Shubhanshu Shukla: Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla too has been trained in Moscow’s Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in various aspects of space movement.
The selection and training of astronauts for the Gaganyaan mission have been rigorous and comprehensive. The chosen astronauts undergo intensive training in areas such as space navigation, survival skills, and simulated space missions to prepare them for the challenges of space travel.