The delays in India”s Gaganyaan program could have significant implications for the country”s broader space exploration objectives. Currently, the program includes eight planned flights, with each mission spaced six months apart. Any postponements at this stage will disrupt the timeline for constructing and operating the Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS).
The inaugural flight of the Gaganyaan program, which is an uncrewed mission, is now set to launch by the end of this year. At a recent convocation ceremony at the Birla Institute of Technology in Mesra, ISRO Chairman V Narayanan stated, “All the developments for Gaganyaan are nearing completion. Now, we are planning three uncrewed missions before the crewed mission. The first uncrewed mission is targeted somewhere towards the end of this year.”
Originally scheduled for December 2024, the first flight has been postponed to March 2025, and most recently to December 2025. With only two months remaining until the revised date, any further delays could create a cascade of setbacks across the entire program. This revised timeline has already deviated significantly from earlier projections.
The Gaganyaan program encompasses a series of missions, including three test flights, two crewed missions, an autonomous docking with the International Space Station (ISS), and the deployment of the first module of the BAS. To meet the goal of operationalizing the BAS by 2035, adherence to the current schedule is crucial. According to the latest updates, the first crewed mission has been moved from December 2026 to 2027, intensifying concerns about the program”s future.
Several planned test flights, which were intended to occur before the first uncrewed Gaganyaan mission, included integrated air drop tests, a second pad abort test, and an abort test at a higher altitude. These tests are now expected to be conducted prior to the inaugural crewed flight.
The Union Cabinet approved the Gaganyaan program back in 2018, allocating a budget of 10,000 crore rupees with the ambition of launching a crewed mission into Earth”s orbit by 2022, coinciding with India”s 75th Independence Day. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has been cited as a contributing factor to the subsequent delays.
For the HLVM3-G1-OM1 flight, ISRO began stacking the rocket last year, marking a key step forward in the overall mission timeline.
