India Expands Gaganyaan Mission to Include National Space Station and Multiple Crewed Flights

Highlights:

• India expands Gaganyaan program to include a national space station and multiple space missions.
• Budget increased to ₹201.93 billion ($2.32 billion) from the earlier $1.1 billion allocation.
• Mission plan now includes:
  Two crewed spaceflights
  Six uncrewed test missions
  Operational Bharatiya Antariksh Station by 2035
  Indian crewed Moon mission by 2040
• Delays due to COVID-19, supply chain issues, and design modifications.
• Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla to also fly with Axiom Space’s Crew Dragon mission.

India’s Gaganyaan Mission Expands to National Space Station

India’s ambitious Gaganyaan human spaceflight program has been expanded to include the development and operation of a national space station, aiming to solidify the country’s position in the global space race.

Speaking in parliament on Thursday, Union Minister Jitendra Singh revealed that the mission budget has been revised to ₹201.93 billion ($2.32 billion) to accommodate the extended scope. This is a significant jump from the $1.1 billion originally allocated, which was meant for one crewed and two uncrewed missions.

Now, the revised plan includes:
📌 Two crewed spaceflights
📌 Six uncrewed test missions
📌 A national space station by 2035
📌 An Indian crewed Moon mission by 2040

Mission Objectives and Challenges

Gaganyaan: India’s First Crewed Space Mission

🚀 Gaganyaan (meaning “sky craft” in Hindi) aims to send a crewed capsule into a 400 km orbit before safely returning it to Earth with a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. This would make India the fourth country—after the US, Russia, and China—to successfully send astronauts to space and bring them back.

Why the Delay?

The mission, announced in 2019 with a target launch in 2022, has faced multiple delays due to:
🔸 COVID-19 disruptions and supply chain bottlenecks
🔸 Shortage of space-grade electronic components
🔸 Additional astronaut safety checks
🔸 Redesign to keep spacecraft weight within launch limits
🔸 Longer-than-expected development of an indigenous life support system

India originally planned to source some spaceflight technology from abroad, but restrictions on critical life-support tech forced ISRO to develop it indigenously, further delaying progress.

Future Vision: Space Station & Moon Mission

Bharatiya Antariksh Station (2035)

🔹 India aims to build and operate its own space station by 2035, expanding its independent human spaceflight capabilities.
🔹 The station will serve as a research hub for microgravity experiments, space medicine, and deep-space missions.

Crewed Moon Mission (2040)

🔹 ISRO is developing advanced crewed lunar mission technologies, targeting a human Moon landing by 2040.
🔹 This will require the development of heavy-lift launch vehicles and a next-generation lunar lander.

India’s Global Space Ambitions

With Gaganyaan, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, and a future Moon mission, India is positioning itself as a major player in the space sector. Despite delays, the commitment to building indigenous space technology and achieving self-reliance in human spaceflight marks a new era for ISRO.