Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairperson Dr V. Narayanan said that the launch date for the first uncrewed mission of Gaganyaan would be announced this week.

The HLVM3 G1/ OM1 mission, which is the first uncrewed mission of Gaganyaan, was scheduled to be launched in the first quarter of 2026. However, it has been delayed.

ISRO is working towards the first uncrewed mission of its ambitious Gaganyaan Mission scheduled for 2027, Chairman V. Narayanan has said.

The Gaganyaan mission is India’s first human spaceflight programme currently under development. It aims to send a three-member crew on a three-day mission to space and bring them back safely to Earth.

“Gaganyaan programme is planned in 2027. Before that, three uncrewed missions are planned. We are working towards the first uncrewed mission,” he told reporters late Friday (January 30, 2026).

To a query, he said, currently scientists were engaged in conducting a lot of tests for the mission to achieve success.

“There are lots of tests happening. You know safety of the Gaganyatri is very, very important. So, we have to be very careful. We have to qualify every system. In the rocket system, we have to score one hundred out of one hundred,” he said.

“Our aim is that [the success of Gaganyaan]. We have to do a perfect job. We are working towards that,” he said.

On the PSLV-C62 mission, which suffered an anomaly in the third stage of the rocket after lift-off on January 12, he said scientists were studying everything on the mission to put things in order.

The PSLV-C62/EOS N1 suffered a setback after an anomaly was encountered on the third stage of the rocket and scientists have initiated a detailed analysis on the mission.

A series of qualification tests for drogue parachutes, which have been carried out to develop a deceleration system for ISRO’s Gaganyaan crew module, were successful, the space agency said on Saturday (December 20, 2025).

“These tests were completed at the Rail Track Rocket Sled (RTRS) facility of the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) in Chandigarh, on December 18 and 19,” the ISRO said.

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“The deceleration system of the Gaganyaan crew module comprises a total of 10 parachutes of four types,” the agency said in a statement.

According to ISRO, the descent sequence begins with the separation of two apex cover separation parachutes, which remove the protective cover from the parachute compartment. This is followed by the deployment of two drogue parachutes that stabilise and decelerate the module.

“Upon release of the drogues, three pilot parachutes are deployed to extract three main parachutes, which further slow down the crew module to ensure a safe touchdown,” ISRO said.

The space agency said that a crucial component of this system is the deployment of drogue parachutes, which play a pivotal role in stabilising the crew module and reducing its velocity to a safe level during re-entry.

“The objective of this specific test series was to rigorously evaluate the performance and reliability of the drogue parachutes under extreme conditions. Both the RTRS tests on drogue parachutes were successfully conducted on December 18 and 19, 2025. Achieving all the test objectives and confirming their robustness even under the situation of significant variation in flight conditions,” ISRO stated.

The successful completion of these tests marks another significant step toward qualifying the parachute system for human spaceflight, with active support and participation from the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment, DRDO, and the TBRL, the statement added.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently conducted an important test on main parachutes for the Gaganyaan Crew Module.

The test was conducted at the Babina Field Firing Range (BFFR) in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi on November 3, 2025 as part of the ongoing series of Integrated Main Parachute Airdrop Tests (IMAT) for the qualification of parachute system for Gaganyaan mission.

For the Gaganyaan Crew Module, the parachute system comprises a total of 10 parachutes of four types. The descent sequence begins with two apex cover separation parachutes that remove the protective cover of the parachute compartment, followed by two drogue parachutes that stabilise and decelerate the module.

“Upon release of the drogues, three pilot parachutes are deployed to extract three main parachutes, which further slow down the Crew Module to ensure a safe touchdown. The system is designed with redundancy — two of the three main parachutes are sufficient to achieve a safe landing,” the space agency said.

Reefed inflation

The main parachutes of the Gaganyaan mission deploy in a step-by-step process known as reefed inflation.

“In this process, the parachute first opens partially, which is called reefing, and then fully opens after a predetermined period of time, known as disreefing. This process is carried out using a pyro device,” it added.

In the recently concluded test, one of the possible extreme scenarios of delay in the disreefing between the two main parachutes was successfully demonstrated validating the main parachutes for the maximum design.

The test evaluated the system’s structural integrity and load distribution under asymmetric disreefing conditions, which is one of the most critical load scenarios expected during actual mission descent.

A simulated mass equivalent to the Crew Module was dropped from an altitude of 2.5 km using the Indian Air Force’s IL-76 aircraft. The parachute system deployed as planned and the sequence was executed flawlessly, and the test article achieved a stable descent and soft landing, validating the robustness of the parachute design.

NASA and ISRO are all set to declare their first-ever jointly developed NISAR satellite operational on Friday, ISRO chairman V. Narayanan said here on Wednesday.

The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), said to be the most expensive Earth observation satellite ever built, has the ability to monitor most of the planet’s land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days.

The 2,400 kg NISAR satellite was launched on July 30 from ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre using the GSLV rocket.

“Entire data calibration has been completed, and we will have a conclave on November 7 to declare the satellite operational,” Narayanan said at the Emerging Science, Technology and Innovation Conclave (ESTIC) here.

NASA-ISRO NISAR satellite onboard GSLV-F16 launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, on July 30, 2025
| Photo Credit:
ANI

The NISAR mission is the first to carry two SAR systems – the L-Band and S-Band sensors.

The L-band radar can penetrate forest canopies and measure soil moisture, forest biomass, and the motion of land and ice surfaces.

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The S-band radar is more sensitive to small vegetation, and can observe certain types of agriculture, grassland ecosystems and moisture in snow. Both systems can collect data through clouds and precipitation, day and night.

“All the data is very outstanding. Every 12 days, the Earth can be scanned, and it is going to be a highly useful satellite,” Mr. Narayanan said.

Gaganyaan’s uncrewed mission in Jan 2026

The ISRO chief also said the first uncrewed mission of the Gaganyaan project — India’s human spaceflight programme — is expected to take place in January 2026, with plans to send its astronauts into space on a home-built rocket by 2027.

Narayanan said over 8,000 tests have been carried out for the mission so far, and ISRO plans to conduct three uncrewed missions before sending astronauts to orbit the Earth.

He said India also plans to launch the first module of the Bhartiya Antariksh Station by 2028 and make the complete five-module orbital lab operational by 2035.

The Indian space station will be a 52-tonne facility with the capacity to host three to four crew members for longer durations and a maximum of six members for short-duration missions.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman V. Narayanan on Thursday (October 23, 2025) said that about 90% of the development work on the Gaganyaan mission has been completed.

“The Gangyaan mission is going on very well. A lot of technological development has to take place. Number one the rocket has to be human rated, the life support system, the crew escape system and of course human centric products. I can say today that approximately 90% of the development work has been completed,” Mr. Narayanan told reporters in Bengaluru.

He added that the crewed mission to launch the Indian astronauts into space will take place in 2027 and prior to that ISRO will undertake three uncrewed missions.

“Three uncrewed missions have to be accomplished, the first uncrewed mission with the humanoid Vyomitra is expected to take flight by the end of this year. We want to accomplish the crewed mission by 2027,” he said.

The Gaganyaan project envisages demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching a crew of three members to an orbit of 400 km for a three-day mission and bringing them back safely to Earth by landing in Indian sea waters.

On the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite launched on July 30, 2025, Mr. Narayanan said that the satellite is healthy and it would be declared operational in another 10-15 days.

‘Totally healthy’

“Initial input states that the satellite is totally healthy and both the payloads are working well,” he said.

NISAR is the first satellite to observe the earth with a dual-frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) — NASA’s L-band and ISRO’s S-band — both using NASA’s 12-metre unfurlable mesh reflector antenna, integrated with ISRO’s modified I3K satellite bus.

The NISAR satellite will scan the earth and provide all-weather, day-and-night data at 12-day intervals, and enable a wide range of applications.

NVS-02 satellite

On the NVS-02 satellite which suffered a technical glitch as ISRO was unable to perform the intended orbit raising operations due to a valve malfunction, the ISRO Chairman said, “The NVS-02 satellite has gone to the elliptical orbit and we could not take it to circular orbit because of a valve malfunction. The failure analysis committee has completed the investigation and zeroed down on the fault. The recommendation of the committee will be placed before the Government.”

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday (August 24, 2025) said Gaganyaan mission symbolises a “new chapter” in the journey of Atmanirbhar Bharat and called astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and the other three chosen Gaganyatris as “gems.”

At an event hosted by the IAF at Subroto Park in New Delhi, Mr. Singh felicitated the four Gaganyatris.

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The ceremony comes after the successful Axiom 4 mission, of which Shukla was a part.

Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap, and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla are the four chosen Gaganyatris.

Their names were revealed for the first time in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram in February 2024.

The Gaganyaan project, formally announced by Modi in 2018, aims to send a three-member crewed flight into the 400 km-orbit for a three-day mission in 2027.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday (August 21, 2025) met Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to board the International Space Station (ISS), and congratulated him on his landmark achievement.

Calling it a “major milestone” in India’s human spaceflight journey, Mr. Singh lauded Group Captain Shukla’s contribution through vital scientific experiments conducted in orbit, and praised his role in advancing India’s space research and exploration capabilities. He expressed confidence that the astronaut’s inspiring journey will motivate young Indians to pursue careers in science, technology and space.

In a post on social media platform X after the meeting, the Defence Minister said they discussed Group Captain Shukla’s space mission, his experiments onboard the ISS, technological advances, and the road ahead with India’s upcoming Gaganyaan mission.

Role of the IAF

Mr. Singh highlighted the Indian Air Force’s pivotal role in astronaut selection, training, and mission support in collaboration with the ISRO. He said the professionalism and expertise of IAF personnel are key enablers of India’s progress towards manned space missions.

The Ministry of Defence noted that with globally recognised achievements in lunar and Mars exploration, India is now moving towards manned space missions and the eventual establishment of its own space station. Group Captain Shukla’s successful mission aboard the ISS, it added, reflects the synergy between the ISRO, the IAF, and other national stakeholders in strengthening India’s status as a spacefaring nation.