Indian Human Spaceflight Programme
Gaganyaan Astronaut Insignia | |
| Program overview | |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| Organization | Human Space Flight Centre (ISRO) |
| Purpose | Human spaceflight |
| Status | Active |
| Programme history | |
| Cost | ₹20,193 crore (US$2.4 billion) |
| Duration | 2006–present |
| First flight | Gaganyaan-1 (Q4 2025) |
| First crewed flight | Gaganyaan-4 (NET Q1 2027) |
| Launch site(s) | Satish Dhawan Space Centre |
| Vehicle information | |
| Launch vehicle(s) |
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The Indian Human Spaceflight programme (or the Gaganyaan programme) is an ongoing programme by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to develop the technology needed to launch crewed orbital spacecraft into low Earth orbit. Three uncrewed flights, named Gaganyaan-1, Gaganyaan-2 and Gaganyaan-3 are scheduled to launch in 2025, followed by crewed flight in 2026 on an HLVM3 rocket.
Before the Gaganyaan mission announcement in August 2018, human spaceflight was not a priority for ISRO, but it had been working on related technologies since 2007, and it performed a Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment and a Pad Abort Test for the mission. In December 2018, the Indian government approved a further ₹100 billion crore (US$1.5 billion) for a 7-day crewed flight of 2–3 astronauts.
If completed successfully, India will become the fourth nation to conduct independent human spaceflight after the Soviet Union, United States, and China. After conducting the first crewed spaceflights, the agency intends to start a space station programme, crewed lunar landings, and crewed interplanetary missions in the long term.