India's space agency completes 1st Gaganyaan astronaut crew capsule

The capsule that will one day ferry Indian astronauts to space and return them to Earth has been fitted with the key technology required for the task — marking another milestone in the country's pursuit to develop homegrown technology for independent human spaceflight capabilities.

The country's space agency, Indian Space Research Organization, announced on Wednesday (Jan. 22) that its Bengaluru center completed assembling the Gaganyaan crew module and equipping it with a liquid propulsion system, which is responsible for generating the thrust needed to control the capsule's orientation and trajectory. This system ensures the capsule can navigate safely during its descent after reentering Earth's atmosphere, until a parachute is deployed for a safe touchdown.

The crew module is being transported to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Kerala, where it will be equipped with electronics necessary for communications, navigation and power management — key systems essential for controlling the spacecraft during flight operations, ISRO said in a Jan. 22 statement.

Following those tasks, the crew module will be shipped to ISRO's spaceport in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, where it will be integrated with the orbital module, the statement says.

Before India flies one or two astronauts to low Earth orbit for the first time — now no sooner than 2026 — it plans to test its technology through at least four uncrewed demonstrations. The first one, called G1, will test the crew and service modules, reentry, parachute deployment and a safe splashdown in the Bay of Bengal.

Although uncrewed, the G1 mission will also ferry a humanoid robot called Vyomitra (Sanskrit for "space friend") designed to validate the technology. ISRO has not yet announced a date for this test flight; local media reports suggest a tentative launch early this year, perhaps as soon as February.

India is eyeing 10 orbital launches this year, SpaceNews reported, but those do not seem to include G2 and G3 test flights.

Meanwhile, one of the four astronauts announced for the crewed Gaganyaan mission, Indian Air Force test pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, has been training with Houston company Axiom Space for a two-week mission to the International Space Station this April.

The announcement follows ISRO making progress on an engine for the rocket that will launch Gaganyaan. The agency has been performing a number of major tests, including verifying an emergency-escape system and recovery procedures, as it gears up for the full-blown mission.

India plans to launch its first uncrewed Gaganyaan test flight before the end of the year as a step toward sending humans into orbit. At present, only the United States, Russia and China have the ability to independently launch people into space.

India's space program has scored a number of successes in the last year. Achievements include landing on the moon with the robotic Chandrayaan-3 mission and launching the Aditya-1 solar probe to Earth-sun Lagrange Point 1. The country, boosted by these milestones, has set out plans to establish an orbiting space station by 2035 and put astronauts on the moon by 2040.