India has postponed the inaugural crewed flight of the Gaganyaan spacecraft.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced that the inaugural crewed flight of the Gaganyaan spacecraft will take place no earlier than 2026, which is approximately a year later than previously scheduled. This mission will be preceded by a series of unmanned flight tests, with the first test set to begin in December 2024.
2024-11-06 10:01:10https://naked-science.ru/community/1004147
According to ISRO Chairman S. Somnath, the delay is due to extreme safety precautions being taken to ensure crew safety, as well as challenges in developing Indian technologies for the mission.
“I don’t want what happened with Boeing’s Starliner to occur, so we need to be very cautious,” Somnath stated.
As part of the crewed flight, the Gaganyaan spacecraft will carry one or two gaganauts to a low Earth orbit, approximately 400 kilometers above the Earth. If successful, India will become the fourth country to independently send humans into space, following the USA, Russia, and China.