Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief K Sivan on Wednesday (January 22) announced that the work on Chandrayaan 3 mission has started and it is going on at full speed. He added that the ISRO will be ready with Chandrayaan 3 by 2020. Sivan, however, said that India will take some more time to send an astronaut to moon.
The ISRO chief also provided details about Gaganyaan mission and said that four astronauts have been short-listed for the mission and they will go to Russia for training in the coming days. Sivan added that in 1984 Rakesh Sharma became the first person from India to travel in space but he flew in a Russian module. Sivan asserted that Gaganyaan mission will be a historic achievement for India because this time the Indian astronauts will fly in a module developed by India.
After receiving training in Russia, the astronauts will receive module-specific training in India. In this training, the astronauts will be trained in crew and service module designed by ISRO, learn to operate it, work around it and do simulations. On January 1, 2020, ISRO chief had said that Gaganyaan project is currently the top priority of the scientists at Bengaluru-based ISRO.
The ISRO chief remarked that Gaganyaan mission should not be seen only as an attempt to send a human to space because this mission will provide opportunities to build a framework for long term national and international collaborations and cooperation.
“We all know that scientific discoveries, economic development, education, tech development & inspiring youth are coming goals for all nations. Human space flight provides perfect platform to meet all these objectives,” Sivan was quoted as saying by ANI.