The Indian space agency had roped in the country’s top fashion institute to design the ground uniforms for the four astronauts chosen for its maiden space flight mission, Gaganyaan.

The names of the four astronauts were revealed last month and extensive preparations are underway at various Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) centres for the ambitious programme.

The astronauts met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February in a blue ground uniform designed by a team from the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Bengaluru. The NIFT team also designed the wings for the astronauts. They specifically chose an asymmetric design to give the uniform a unique energetic look with the blue color signifying the sky and peace. The fabric chosen was Indian cotton-based.

NDTV’s Science Editor Pallava Bagla visited the design lab of Prof Jonalee Bajpai, who led the designers’ team that worked on the uniform, to learn how fashion technologists have been contributing to the look and feel of Gaganyaan.

The uniform worn by the astronauts that day was chosen from a catalogue of 70 different choices provided to the ISRO by the NIFT. “My team worked on 150 designs and presented 70 different options to the ISRO team, from which we came down to an asymmetric style, which is dynamic,” said Prof Bajpai.

The ground uniform is different from the astronaut suits, which India has bought from Russia.

Uniform Dynamics Explained

The blue colour signifies calmness, peace and a sense of perseverance, said Prof Bajpai.

“We also arrived at a beautiful balance of colours with dark and light blue, and some horizontal stripes,” she added.

The astronaut patch includes the wings, Ashok Chakra and the ISRO logo.

“The wings resemble the opening of solar panels and give the feeling of positivity, abundance, flight and height. This also signifies that the astronauts are from the Indian Air Force. At the centre of it is the Ashok Chakra. We have merged the ISRO logo with the Chakra and the wings, which talks about the confluence of so many factors coming together,” she said.

Why Asymmetric Design

The ground uniform has an asymmetric design with light blue on one side and dark blue on another. Asymmetry is very dynamic, holds a lot of visual information, and looks youthful, explained Dr Mohan V K, fashion technologist at NIFT, Bengaluru.

“The requirement was that this particular suit should excite 140 crore Indians. Secondly, it should be a loud announcement of India’s entry to the elite space club of nations with space flight capabilities. Based on such requirements, we narrowed down our design directions to asymmetry,” said Dr Mohan.

Prashanth Nair, Angad Prathap, Ajit Krishnan, and Shubhanshu Shukla are the four test pilots of the Indian Air Force who have been chosen for the Gaganyaan mission. The human space flight mission aims to launch a three-member crew into a Low Earth Orbit and bring them back after three days.

Thiruvananthapuram:

The Gaganyaan manned space flight mission will launch “Indian astronauts into space from Indian soil on an India-made rocket”, Dr Unnikrishnan Nair, the head of the elite Vikram Sarabhai Space Center in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram, told NDTV in a special interview this week.

Expected to cost Rs 9,000 crore, Gaganyaan is a “national mission” that will send four specially chosen and trained male test pilots from the Indian Air Force into space, Dr Nair said.

In an exclusive tour of the country’s main rocket lab, an ultra-secure facility, NDTV was given glimpses of the crew module – in which the four pilot-astronauts will travel into space – and the service module – which will be attached to the former, and the space suits that they will wear.

The crew module, Dr Nair said, is a little over 10 feet in diameter and is configured for three people, but this can be adjusted depending on mission requirements. The space suits were purchased from the Russians as part of a deal to buy the seats, which follow the ‘cradle’ philosophy, he said.

On the test pilots themselves, Dr Nair said, “You know… since they are from the Air Force, they are close to astronauts in terms of key attributes, like quick response time, and have responded well to tests like centrifuge, which subjects them to higher acceleration forces.”

“They are now an astronaut training centre for 13 months for training on survivability in different conditions, and then will be subject to parabolic flight tests. Then they will go to Bengaluru, where a Human Space Flight Centre is set up and will get more training, including physical training.”

The four pilot-astronauts – dubbed ‘India’s Fantastic 4’ – were revealed to the country by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week; they are Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla.

READ | India’s Fantastic 4: Meet Gaganyaan Astronauts Named By PM

Their training will also include academic courses and detailed instruction on Gaganyaan flight systems, as well as yoga, sources at ISRO, India’s space agency, told NDTV.

READ | Gravity, Flying Practice, Yoga: Training For Gaganyaan Astronauts

Earlier all four also received training at Russia’s Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre.

Dr Nair also explained why no women will be part of this historic space flight – because pilot-astronauts are drawn from the ranks of Air Force test pilots. At the time, India has no women in that role.

NDTV Explains | Why No Woman Among 4 Pilots Chosen For Gaganyaan Mission

“When I was HSFC (Human Space Flight Centre) Director, we put this idea to the Air Force. But unfortunately, there were then no women test then. Now, I understand there are women test pilots and I hope they will soon join us,” he said.

Meanwhile, NDTV also met Vyommitra – the robotic (female) humanoid that will fly into space for a test flight ahead of the mission. The launch of Vyommitra – whose name comes from Sanskrit words meaning ‘space’ (‘vyom‘) and ‘friend’ (‘mitra‘) – may be in the third quarter of this year.

READ | Robot Astronaut Vyommitra To Simulate Human Functions In Space

Overall, work is on at full pace for the Gaganyaan mission, which will cost about Rs 9,000 crore, with the four test pilots undergoing special training and the launch vehicle now humanrated, which means its ability to safely carry and return its human occupants has been evaluated and confirmed.

Before the manned flight, though, there must be at least two successful unmanned flights, the first of which, if all goes well, will take place by the middle of, or end of, this year, NDTV was told.

Gaganyaan astronaut-designates Group Captain Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap, and Wing Commander Subhanshu Shukla received ‘astronaut wings’ from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Video grab

India on Tuesday announced the names of the four astronaut-designates for the Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission, planned for launch in 2025.

The names of the Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots — Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla — 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.

The final crew for the mission will be picked from among the four.

Shortlisted through a rigorous selection process, they have been undergoing training in various aspects of space flight, initially in Russia, and later at the Astronaut Training Facility established by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Bengaluru.

The Prime Minister presented the four with ‘astronaut wings’ on the occasion.

According to ISRO, the Gaganyaan programme is designed to demonstrate indigenous capability to undertake human space flight mission to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The mission is expected to pave way for a “sustained Indian human space exploration programme” in the long run.

Preparations on

In the run-up to the crewed mission to LEO, ISRO is in the process of conducting various tests. These include the Integrated Air Drop tests, Test Vehicle Missions, pad Abort Tests. There will be unmanned flights before the actual flight.

ISRO has also announced plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2040.

During his visit, Mr. Modi reviewed the progress on the Gaganyaan Mission and dedicated three technical facilities developed at a cost of about ₹1,800 crore to the nation.

This includes a state-of-the-art Trisonic Wind Tunnel at the VSSC, integration facilities for the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, and the Semi-cryogenic Integrated Engine and Stage Test Facility (SIET) at the ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC) at Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu.

The Trisonic Wind Tunnel produces a controlled uniform airflow over scale models of rockets and aircraft to assess their aerodynamic characteristics. It is designed to make ISRO self-reliant in the end-to-end design of upcoming launch vehicle projects. The PSLV Integration Facilities (PIF) at Sriharikota will give ISRO the capability to increase the number of PSLV missions in a year from 6 to 15. SIET will be used to test the SCE-2000 semi-cryogenic engine and stages which will increase the payload capability of the launch vehicles.

On his arrival, ISRO chairman S. Somanath took the Prime Minister through a display of equipment related to the Gaganyaan mission, including ‘Vyommitra,’ the humanoid robot developed by the space agency for the programme.

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan were present on the occasion.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S. Somanath has said that ‘Gaganyaan’, the country’s first human space flight programme, is expected to be launched by the end of 2025.

The nation will have a space station by the year 2035. The ISRO is already working on Chandrayaan-4 to retrieve samples from the moon, he said after receiving the Sree Sankara Award instituted by the Adi Sankara Trust at a programme held at Sree Sarada Vidyalaya, Kalady, on Saturday.

Adi Sankara Trust managing trustee K. Anand presented the award, comprising ₹1 lakh, citation, and a memento, to Mr. Somanath. The ISRO chief handed over the money for the welfare programmes of the trust, according to a release.

He also inaugurated the Sarada Progressive Advanced Research Collaboration at Sree Sarada Vidyalaya on the occasion.

Former wing commander and astronaut Rakesh Sharma during the inauguration of a museum, in Kolkata.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Every astronaut comes back with the realisation about the fragility of earth, the “heaven” that people should stop “ruining” by exhausting its resources, Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to venture into space, said.

Mr. Sharma also said people should learn about sustainability before making attempts to find habitable places other than earth.

“Almost every space traveller comes back with the realisation about the fragility of our planet… That is where [the space] you get to see the big picture… that our earth is just a pale blue dot,” he said during a recent interactive session at a musuem launch in Kolkata.

“So instead of ruining heaven, which is what we have, I don’t much endorse the rush to build up a far-off hell somewhere else before we learn sustainability…. Unfortunately, there are not many people talking about it, even those who return from space,” the 74-year-old former wing commander said.

Mr. Sharma was a part of the Soviet Union’s ‘Soyuz T-11’ expedition, launched in April, 1984. He remains the first and only Indian to journey into space.

He was in Kolkata to inaugurate the Museum of Astronomy and Space Science on the premises of the Indian Centre for Space Physics.

During the address, he urged all stakeholders to look at ways to be more sustainable for safeguarding the planet.

“Earth has got limited resources, but our expenditure of those is just not compatible. We will be running out of resources and ruining the only place that can sustain life till as far as the telescopes tell us,” Mr. Sharma said.

The celebrated astronaut said the space sector in India has been opened up by the government, with the private sector participating “wholeheartedly” and startups beginning to “mushroom”.

He also expressed hope that more Indian astronauts would travel to space, as part of the country’s ambitious human spaceflight mission ‘Gaganyaan’.

“Now that four other guys [selected for the Gaganyaan mission] are under training, I am hoping that life will probably come somewhere back to normal,” Mr. Sharma said on a lighter note.

The Gaganyaan project plans to launch human crew to an orbit of 400 km for a three-day mission and bringing them back safely to earth, by landing in Indian waters, according to the ISRO. It is targeted for launch in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Flooded with queries whether he was nervous before the Soviet-Indian spaceflight, the Ashok Chakra awardee said he had all the experience to tackle the realm of the unknown, courtesy of his stint as a test pilot.

“I was an experienced test pilot by that time, testing aeroplanes that I never flew before… I was already accustomed to doing that… And so you devise a complex kind of a process on how to approach something in the domain of the unknown.

“You tend to attempt to derisk as much as you can with past data… If it has to work it will work; not that if you are worried and nervous, it will work [on various mechanical components],” said Mr. Sharma.

New Delhi:

    
ISRO today successfully launched its unmanned test flight for its first human spaceflight mission – ‘Gaganyaan’ – in the second attempt after the lift-off was briefly put on hold.

“The lift off was put on hold initially after ground computer detected non conformance. We could identify it and correct it very quickly,” said ISRO chief S Somnath.

The ISRO Chief said that the purpose of the mission was to demonstrate the crew escape system. “The vehicle went slightly above the speed of sound, before it initiated the crew escape system,” he said.

“The escape system took the crew module away from the vehicle and subsequent operations including the touch-down at the sea have been very well accomplished,” he added.

“We will come back with more data and analysis after recovery of the crew modules from the sea,” Mr Somnath said.

Mission Director S Sivakumar said that all systems “performed well” during the test flight launch.

“This is like a never before attempt. It is like a bouquet of three experiments put together. We have now seen the characteristics of all three systems with what we wanted to test through this experiment or this mission. The test vehicle, the crew escape system, the crew module everything, we have perfectly demonstrated in the first attempt,” he said.

The ambitious space mission Gaganyaan is a significant milestone in the effort to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s target of setting up an Indian Space Station by 2035 and launch Indian astronaut to the Moon by 2040.

Attempting to prepare for every possibility, which is now a part of its ethos, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will carry out an abort test for the human space mission, Gaganyaan, today. 

A similar fail-safe approach had been taken for Chandrayaan-3 and had helped ISRO script history by making India the first country to land nearer the south pole of the Moon in August. The stakes, though, are much higher this time because the lives of humans will be involved.

Gaganyaan’s crew module escape system will be live tested from Sriharikota. This is the first of the 20 big tests that ISRO has planned for the near future. All in an effort to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s target that ISRO sets up an Indian Space Station by 2035 and launch Indian astronaut to the Moon by 2040.

Here are the LIVE updates on Gaganyaan Mission Test Flight:

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Gaganyaan Mission: Countdown Leading To Launch Of First Test Flight Begins

Mission Gaganyaan:
TV-D1 Test Flight

The countdown leading to the launch at 08:00 Hrs. IST on October 21, 2023, has commenced.

Brochure: https://t.co/2A5nlqEb2I#Gaganyaan

– ISRO (@isro) October 20, 2023