The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space , Dr Jitendra Singh in Parliament on Thursday said the first test vehicle mission, for the validation of the crew escape system for Gaganyaan, is likely to take place later this month or in the month of September.

The Gaganyaan is the maiden human space flight mission of India.

In a statement laid on the table of the Rajya Sabha, Dr Singh informed that all subsystems pertaining to test vehicle TV-D1 mission have been realised and the crew module integration has been completed.

He added that the static tests of all crew escape system motors have been done as well as ground testing of the crew module propulsion system has also been completed.

Likewise, the training of crew (astronauts) is almost about to be completed, the minister informed.

As per the Union Minister, the objective of the Gaganyaan mission is to demonstrate the capability of conducting a human space flight mission to the low earth orbit (LEO) on-board an indigenous launch vehicle. The orbital module consists of a crew module and a service module. The crew module, which is a pressurised module, acts as living quarters for the crew. The orbital module will be positioned in a 400 km circular orbit around the Earth for 1-3 days and the crew module will return to the designated location in sea.

Among the other progresses made for the Gaganyaan programme, Singh added, the second crew module sub-assembly identified for uncrewed missions is completed and delivered by industry. The orbital module preparation facility construction is also completed.

Furthermore, facility has been commissioned for integration activities of the test vehicle mission and the launchpad augmentation works for Gaganyaan are underway.

ISRO and Indian Navy, on the other hand, have commenced training to recover the vehicle from the sea at Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam.

The minister further informed the delivery of human-centric products for crew training  have started from various national labs and the process of testing the products are also on progress.

The first crewed mission of Gaganyaan has been scheduled for late 2024 or early 2025 and before that, there will be a launch of uncrewed carrying a humanoid ‘Vyommitra’ by ISRO.

If the manned mission is successful, India will become the fourth nation in the world after the US, Russia and China to acquire the capability to launch a human spaceflight mission, reported TOI.