India to Launch Four Astronauts into Space by 2024-25

India is set to launch its first human space flight program, Gaganyaan, by 2024-25, marking a historic milestone for the country’s space sector. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the names of the four astronauts who will be part of the mission on February 27, 2024, at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram. The four chosen Indian Air Force pilots are Group Captain Prashanth Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap, and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla.

The four astronauts were trained at Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia and received their astronaut wings from the Prime Minister. They will undergo further training in India before the launch. The Gaganyaan mission will involve sending the astronauts into low Earth orbit for about a week using an Indian spacecraft and rocket. The mission will cost about 10,000 crore rupees and will be a major boost for India’s space research and development.

The Prime Minister also said that India will have its own space station by 2035 and will once again go to the Moon and bring back samples from the lunar surface. He also said that India has plans to explore Venus and other planets in the future. He praised the achievements of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and said that India’s space economy will grow five-fold and touch 44 billion U.S. dollars in the next decade.

The Gaganyaan mission will be the first time that an Indian will go to space after a gap of 40 years, since Rakesh Sharma’s 1984 space flight aboard USSR’s Soyuz T-11. The Prime Minister said that this time, the time is ours, the countdown is ours, and the rocket is also ours. He said that the four astronauts are not just four names or four individuals, but four powers who carry the aspirations of 140 crore Indians into space.