India postpones first manned space mission launch again

India's Space Minister Jitendra Singh announced that the launch of the first manned space mission Gaganyaan will take place in the first quarter of 2027, marking another delay from the original date set for 2022. The statement was made during a press conference broadcast by Space.com.

• Three essential tests before the manned mission

According to Indian officials, the manned H1 mission will be preceded by three unmanned launches, essential to verify the safety of the rocket and infrastructure. "This is about the lives of the astronauts," Singh stressed. The first test launch, Gaganyaan 1 (G1), will take place later this year and will carry the humanoid robot Vyomitra (the name means "friend from space" in Sanskrit), which will collect important data about the flight.

• Who are the Indian astronauts?

India selected four astronauts for the H1 and H2 missions in February 2024:

Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Ajit Krishnan, Angad Pratap and Shubhanshu Shukla - all test pilots in the military aviation. Two astronauts will be sent on each mission, with the aim of staying in low Earth orbit for three days, returning by splashdown.

• HLVM3: The rocket that will take India to the exclusive space club

The Gaganyaan vehicle will be placed into orbit by HLVM3, an Indian rocket with four stages, two boosters and an emergency evacuation system. With a height of 43.5 meters, the rocket is designed to guarantee the safety of the crew at all times during the launch.

The minister said that 90% of the ground infrastructure is ready, being in the final phase of checks: the launch pad, the mission control center, evacuation facilities and communication systems are all almost fully operational. Also, all the stages of the rocket and the service modules are completed and in the process of integration. With the launch of Gaganyaan, India would become the fourth country in the world to independently send astronauts to space, along with the US, Russia and China. The mission is not only a technological test, but also a symbol of India's space ambition.