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NORTH AMERICAN Newsline AUGUST 16, 2024 | The Indian Eye 22

IAF’s Shubhanshu Shukla picked as ‘Prime

Astronaut’ for Indo-US Mission to ISS

OUR BUREAU Narendra Modi, had reviewed the
progress of the Gaganyaan mission
New Delhi
and bestowed ‘astronaut wings’ to
ndian Air Force Wing Command- the astronaut-designates at Vikram
er Shubhanshu Shukla has been Sarabhai Space Centre.
Iselected as the prime astronaut The Gaganyaan mission is India’s
for the upcoming Indo-US mission to first human space flight program for
the International Space Station (ISS), which extensive preparations are un-
the Indian Space Research Organisa- derway at various ISRO centres.
tion (ISRO) has announced. “India’s success in the space sector
A joint statement signed between is sowing the seeds of scientific tem-
India and the US during the official perament in the country’s young gen-
state visit of Prime Minister Naren- eration,” PM Modi said in his address
dra Modi in June 2023 envisioned a at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre .
joint ISRO-NASA effort to the ISS. The pre-requisites for Gaganyaan
Towards the goal of mounting a mission include development of many
joint ISRO-NASA effort, the Hu- Inc, USA for its upcoming Axiom-4 Gaganyatris as prime and backup critical technologies including human
man Space Flight Centre (HSFC) of mission to the ISS, the Indian space Mission Pilot for this mission. These rated launch vehicle for carrying crew
ISRO has entered into a Space Flight agency said on Friday. include Group Captain Shubhanshu safely to space, Life Support System
Agreement (SFA) with NASA-iden- A National Mission Assign- Shukla (Prime) and Group Captain to provide an earth like environment
tified service provider Axiom Space ment Board has recommended two Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair (Backup). to crew in space, crew emergency
“The assigned crewmembers escape provision and evolving crew
will be finally approved to fly to the management aspects for training, re-
International Space Station by the covery and rehabilitation of crew.
Multilateral Crew Operations Panel Various precursor missions are
(MCOP),” ISRO statement read. planned for demonstrating the Tech-
The recommended Gaganyatris nology Preparedness Levels before
will commence their training for the carrying out the actual Human Space
mission from the first week of August, Flight mission. These demonstrator
ISRO said. missions include Integrated Air Drop
During the mission, the Ga- Test (IADT), Pad Abort Test (PAT)
ganyatri will undertake selected scien- and Test Vehicle (TV) flights. Safety
tific research and technology demon- and reliability of all systems will be
stration experiments on board the ISS proven in unmanned missions pre-
as well as engage in space outreach ceding manned mission.
activities. The experiences gained LVM3 rocket - The well proven
during this mission will be beneficial and reliable heavy lift launcher of
for the Indian Human Space Program ISRO, is identified as the launch vehi-
and it will also strengthen human cle for Gaganyaan mission.
space flight cooperation between Human safety is of paramount
ISRO and NASA. importance in Gaganyaan mission.
Gaganyaan project envisages a In order to ensure the same, various
demonstration of human spaceflight new technologies comprising of En-
capability by launching a crew of 3 gineering systems and Human centric
members to an orbit of 400 km for a systems are being developed and re-
3-day mission and bringing them back alised.
safely to earth, by landing in Indian In 2023, in a stellar display
sea waters. of prowess, India soared to new
In February this year, PM Modi heights with the successful soft land-
announced the names of the four cho- ing of Chandrayaan-3 on the South
THE FOUR PEOPLE LIVING ABOVE THIS STORE sen Indian Air Force pilots; Group Pole of the Moon and the successful
KILLED BY THIS LITHIUM-ION BATTERY FIRE Captain Prashanth Nair, Group Cap- launch of Aditya-L1, India’s first so-
lar mission.
tain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain
DIDN’T EVEN OWN A BATTERY. Angad Pratap, and Wing Command- These milestones not only secured
Learn how er Shubhanshu Shukla who would India’s standing in the global space
to stay safe
be part of India’s first human space economy but also fueled the engines
flight programme. It is slated to be for the private space sector in India.
fdnysmart.org launched in 2024-25. Among other feats India now
The four astronauts were trained aims for setting up ‘Bharatiya An-
at Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Train- tariksha Station’ by 2035, and sending
ing Centre in Russia. Prime Minister the first Indian to the Moon by 2040.

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