India to launch own space station: ISRO

Latest News

India is walking on the path to enrich its space assets. By year 2022 the country will be having its own space station.

Addressing to the media on Thursday the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chairman Dr. K. Sivan said by August 2022 India will have its own, separate space station. It will be called as Gaganyan mission.

Dr. Sivan added a small module for microgravity experiments will initially be stationed in the space and following it a detailed report will be submitted to the government to propose launching of space station weighing 20 tons and where astronauts can stay for up to twenty days.

He further mentioned that the space station would be placed in an orbit 400 km above earth in about 5 to 7 years after the Gaganyaan.

Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Jitendra Singh, said Gaganyaan project is on track and budget of Rs 10,000 crore was approved by the Union Cabinet before the Model Code of Conduct came into force ahead of Lok Sabha elections.

Meanwhile, a Gaganyaan National Advisory Council has been created and up to three crew members would soon be selected.

The crew members would undergo training, initially in India, for about one-and-a-half years.

ISRO and Indian Air Force have signed a MoU for training of pilots. The same could be reached with Navy and Coast Guard for recovery of the crew module after the module lands in water following re-entry to the earth’s atmosphere.