Key Terms & Concepts — UPSC Mains
Gaganyaan Mission
"ISRO's first human spaceflight programme; the uncrewed G1 flight carrying the Vyommitra robot is slated for the second half of 2026, with a crewed flight planned for 2027."
Gaganyaan is ISRO's maiden human spaceflight programme, aiming to send a three-member crew to a 400 km low Earth orbit for a three-day mission aboard an Indian crew module launched on the human-rated LVM3 rocket. The programme involves three uncrewed test flights (G1, G2, G3) before the first crewed mission. The first uncrewed flight, G1, scheduled for the second half of 2026, will carry the half-humanoid robot Vyommitra to validate life-support and environmental systems. The first crewed flight is planned for 2027. Four IAF test pilots have been designated as astronaut-designates, one of whom, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, flew to the ISS on Axiom Mission 4.
GS3 (space technology, indigenisation). Prelims: human-rated LVM3, Vyommitra robot, G1/G2/G3 test flights, four astronaut-designates. Mains: indigenous human spaceflight capability, spin-off technologies, and the roadmap to the Bharatiya Antariksh Station by 2035.
- 1 India's first crewed spaceflight programme, led by ISRO
- 2 Target: 400 km low Earth orbit; crew of three; three-day mission
- 3 Launch vehicle: human-rated LVM3 (HLVM3)
- 4 Three uncrewed test flights (G1, G2, G3) precede the crewed flight
- 5 G1 planned for the second half of 2026, carrying the Vyommitra humanoid robot
- 6 First crewed flight planned for 2027
- 7 Four IAF pilots are astronaut-designates; Shubhanshu Shukla flew on Axiom-4
- 8 Crew Escape System validated by the TV-D1 abort test in October 2023
- 9 Feeds into the planned Bharatiya Antariksh Station by 2035
- 10 Precursor to a planned crewed Moon landing by 2040
ISRO has scheduled the uncrewed Gaganyaan G1 flight, carrying the Vyommitra robot, for the second half of 2026 to validate life-support systems before the crewed mission planned for 2027.
