Four Indian pilots, who were selected to become astronauts to crew Gaganyaan, the country’s first manned space mission, completed their one-year training course from Russian launch service provider Glavcosmos in Moscow. The pilots of the Indian Air Force include a Group Captain and three Wing Commanders. Meanwhile, the Indian Space Research Organisation signed an agreement with the French space agency CNES to train India’s flight physicians. Gaganyaan is a 10,000-crore manned space mission, which will launch three Indian astronauts (the fourth astronaut will be a backup) to circle Earth at a distance of about 300-400 km from the surface for up to seven days.
The Gaganyaan mission is aimed at sending astronauts to space in an orbital spacecraft.
“In the evening we met with Indian gaganauts who had completed their training at Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. We also discussed with the (Indian) ambassador the future bilateral space projects,” Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian state space corporation,said on his Telegram channel, as quoted by Sputnik.
The contract for the training of Indian officers was signed between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Russian launch service provider Glavcosmos in June 2019. The four pilots of the Indian Air Force (IAF) include a Group Captain and three Wing Commanders, according to the IAF sources.
The training began on February 10, 2020, but it was temporarily interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier, the ISRO officials had said that after receiving training in Russia, these astronauts will now receive module-specific training in India. They will be trained in crew and service module designed by ISRO, learn to operate it, work around it and do simulations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has sanctioned ?10,000 crores for the Gaganyaan project.
Credit : Hindustan Times
Picture Credit : Google
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