Gaganyaan

Gaganyaan is intended to demonstrate an indigenous Indian capability for human spaceflight to low Earth orbit. ISRO’s stated mission design envisages a crew of three in an orbit about 400 kilometres above Earth for a mission lasting up to three days, followed by return and landing in Indian sea waters. The Orbital Module comprises a Crew Module and a Service Module. The Crew Module is the habitable, pressurised spacecraft intended to support the crew and withstand re-entry; the Service Module provides in-orbit support such as propulsion, power and thermal control.

The programme uses a human-rated version of ISRO’s LVM3 launch vehicle, designated HLVM3. Human rating requires adapting and qualifying launch systems for crewed flight. A Crew Escape System is designed to rapidly move the Crew Module away from the launch vehicle if an emergency occurs at the pad or during ascent. ISRO identifies life-support systems, crew training, human-factors engineering, recovery and rehabilitation as other important parts of human-spaceflight readiness.

Before a crewed mission, precursor and uncrewed flights test the systems and procedures needed to protect a crew. These include the launch vehicle, escape and separation mechanisms, parachute-based deceleration, spacecraft recovery and the interaction of spacecraft subsystems. An uncrewed test cannot eliminate all risk, but it allows engineers to collect flight data and identify problems without placing astronauts aboard.

On 5 July 2018, ISRO conducted a Pad Abort Test of the Crew Escape System, demonstrating a simulated crew module’s separation and parachute-supported recovery after an abort initiated at the launch pad. On 21 October 2023, the TV-D1 test flight demonstrated an in-flight abort of the Crew Escape System, followed by Crew Module separation and recovery. These tests were technology demonstrations within the broader programme, not crewed Gaganyaan orbital missions.