Written by Naman Anil Kumar, a grade 7 student

Have you heard of ISRO? It is The Indian Space Research Organisation, India’s national space agency that is based in Bengaluru. It has launched many missions – some famous ones are Mangalyaan, Chandraayan, Chandraayan 2, etc. Now there is another spacecraft that ISRO is launching, called  Gaganyaan. Come let’s learn some facts about Gaganyaan.

What is Gaganyaan?

Gaganyaan is the first human-less spacecraft that will be launched from India, and it will travel 400 km away from the Earth. It will carry three crew members to orbit and safely return back to Earth after a mission taking up to seven days.

The capsule will rotate around the Earth every 90 minutes and every 24 hours the astronauts will be able to see India from space, as they carry out experiments on micro-gravity.

The capsule will take 36 hours to return and will land in the Arabian Sea, near the coast of Gujarat.

When is the launch date?

Gaganyaan was supposed to be launched in December 2020. However, due to COVID-19, it has been postponed to December 2021.

Gaganyaan is split into three parts, Gaganyaan-1, Gaganyaan-2, and Gaganyaan3. Gagayaan-1 will be launched in 2021, and it is a test spacecraft.

Gagayaan-2 will be launched in 2022, and it will be the second test spacecraft before sending the crew members.

Gaganyaan-3 will be launched in 2022, which will be the final spacecraft. This is also the year India will complete 75 years of independence.

History behind Gaganyaan

The planning of Gaganyaan was started by an ISRO team in 2006. The initial design was like a simple capsule that was to carry two astronauts. In 2008, the design of the capsule was finalized and submitted to the government for funding. However, at this time, due to political changes, they were unable to get enough funding. The latest development of this project took place because of PM Narendra Modi‘s support.

Who is the chairman of ISRO?

Kailasavadivoo Sivan is an Indian scientist and current Secretary and Chairman of ISRO. He was also a director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Center. Chandranyaan-2 was launched under his chairmanship. For his tremendous work in space projects, he was honored with the  Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam Award in 2019.

What is special about Gaganyaan?

1. It is the first crewless spacecraft.
2. It is the first Indian spacecraft project where robots are being sent for testing before sending the crew members.

Who is Vyommitra?

ISRO is sending a female robot in order to test the crew module, before sending the actual crew members to space in 2021, called Vyommitra. It means space friend.

Vyommitra is a non-legged, half-humanoid, robot that can respond to the environment, give warnings, operate switches, replace carbon-di-oxide cans, receive voice commands, and respond. The unique part of Vyommitra is that she is a female robot.

The whole of India is waiting for the launch of this, special mission. Let us all wish the very best for our ISRO team members.

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