Two Gaganyaan astronauts shortlisted, one to travel to International Space Station on NASA mission this year

indianexpress.com/article/india/2-gaganyaan-astronauts-to-go-to-iss-aboard-the-axiom-4-mission-9435821

July 6, 2024

Soyuz spacecraft docked to the International Space Station (Image credit: NASA)

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has shortlisted two of its four trained Gaganyaan astronauts for a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in collaboration with United States’ NASA later this year, according to officials in the know of the matter. Only one of the shortlisted astronauts will go on the mission which is supposed to take place “no earlier than October 2024,” according to the information available on NASA website.

The mission will take place “no earlier than October 2024,” according to the information available on NASA website.

The astronauts will have to go to the United States ahead of the mission to train on the specifics of the ISS, said one of the officials quoted above.

Also Read | Express View on Gaganyaan: Sky’s not the limit

“While they have general training for space-fairing, much of their training in India focussed on Gaganyaan modules. They will have to be familiarised with ISS modules and protocols,” the official said.

The Axiom-4 mission, which will take the Indian astronauts to the ISS, is the fourth private astronaut mission of NASA and a private US company Axiom Space. The mission is expected to dock with the ISS for fourteen days. At the time when the Axiom-4 mission was announced last year, NASA in a release had said: “The Ax-4 crew members will train with NASA, international partners, and SpaceX for their flight. Axiom Space has contracted SpaceX as launch provider for transportation to and from the space station, and to familiarize the private astronauts with systems, procedures, and emergency preparedness for the Dragon spacecraft.”

Also Read | What the success of Gaganyaan could mean for Indian science

This has been in the works for a while. Last year, a joint statement by India and US during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US had said that NASA would provide advance training to Indian astronauts. Later the same year, NASA administrator Bill Nelson during his Delhi visit had said that the space agency will train an Indian astronaut for a mission to the International Space Station by 2024 end.

India’s own human spaceflight is unlikely to take place before 2025, with the first unmanned flight still to take off. The first flight carrying humans will be launched only after two successful unmanned flights.

Anonna Dutt

Anonna Dutt is a Principal Correspondent who writes primarily on health at the Indian Express. She reports on myriad topics ranging from the growing burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension to the problems with pervasive infectious conditions. She reported on the government’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic and closely followed the vaccination programme. Her stories have resulted in the city government investing in high-end tests for the poor and acknowledging errors in their official reports. Dutt also takes a keen interest in the country’s space programme and has written on key missions like Chandrayaan 2 and 3, Aditya L1, and Gaganyaan. She was among the first batch of eleven media fellows with RBM Partnership to End Malaria. She was also selected to participate in the short-term programme on early childhood reporting at Columbia University’s Dart Centre. Dutt has a Bachelor’s Degree from the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune and a PG Diploma from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. She started her reporting career with the Hindustan Times. When not at work, she tries to appease the Duolingo owl with her French skills and sometimes takes to the dance floor. ... Read More