Gaganyaan to be launched in 2023, India's first space station by 2030: Jitendra Singh

NEW DELHI: Clearing the air on the launch year of India's much-delayed maiden human spaceflight mission to space, Union space minister Jitendra Singh said the final crewed Gaganyaan mission will be launched in 2023.
He also said the Venus mission is planned for launch in 2023, L-1 Aditya solar and Chandrayaan-3 missions due for launch in 2022-23 and the country's first space station is likely to come up by 2030.
He said Gaganyaan's major missions, like the test vehicle flight for the validation of crew escape system performance and first uncrewed mission of Gaganyaan (G1), are scheduled during the beginning of second half of 2022. This will be followed by the second uncrewed mission at the end of 2022 carrying 'Vyommitra', a spacefaring human robot developed by Isro, and finally the first crewed Gaganyaan mission in 2023, "which would, undoubtedly, place India in the elite club of nations (America, China and Soviet Union now Russia)".
Singh said that more than 500 industries are involved in the launch of Gaganyaan. He said the programme got "slightly delayed" due to Covid restrictions, but preparations are now in full swing to achieve the mission by 2023. Giving the status of the programme to the RS, the minister said the astronaut training facility is getting established in Bengaluru and is in advanced stage of completion. Basic aeromedical training and flying practice completed as part of the Indian leg of training. The design of all systems has been completed and realisation of various systems is in different stages of progress. Ground qualification tests of human-rated launch vehicle propulsion stages have been successfully progressing.
Setting a timeline for India's first space station, he informed the RS that "by 2030, we would, possibly, be able to set up a space station, which would be unique of its kind. As I said, the journey of India's ascent to the top has already begun through space."