149. Gaganyaan mission; initiating National Program for Rapid Research in Socially Contextual Technologies
Status: Gaganyaan is India’s first human space mission to send an Indian crew of 3 members to an orbit of 400km for 3 days and bring them back to Earth safely. The program however has missed its initial deadline of December 2022 and is now expected to be finished by 2025. At present, work is in progress on the first unmanned Gaganyaan mission to send a female robot Astronaut ‘Vyomitra’ into space by 2024, which will be followed by a manned Gaganyaan mission. In this regard, the ISRO successfully conducted a TV-D1 test flight in October 2023 to validate the crew escape system. The government however is still to launch any major programme on research in socially contextual technologies. i ii iii iv v