India must persist with its ambitious human spaceflight programme despite inevitable complexities and delays, astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla said on Wednesday, asserting that the success of Mission Gaganyaan would place the country among a select group of spacefaring nations.
Addressing reporters, the Ashoka Chakra awardee said the scale of the mission demands patience and sustained national resolve.
“I think, as a nation, what we are trying to do with Mission Gaganyaan has only been done by three other countries in the world,” Shukla said, underlining the significance of the programme.
Gaganyaan, India’s first human spaceflight mission under development by ISRO, aims to send a three-member crew on a three-day mission to space and return them safely to Earth. According to ISRO, the launch is targeted for 2027. Shukla is among the four astronauts selected for the mission.
“These are very complex and challenging missions. We are trying to do something so audacious, whatever time it takes, we need to continue to work towards it with the same enthusiasm that I had on day one, and that will be there on the final day when we finally launch humans into space,” he said.
Acknowledging the hurdles ahead, he added, “I do understand the complexities and challenges that are associated with such an ambitious mission. And yes, definitely there are going to be some unknowns along the way before we finally accomplish it.”
Also read: India aims to land astronauts on Moon by 2040: Former ISRO chief
On India-US cooperation in the space sector, Shukla cited his Axiom mission as an example of how international collaboration can advance exploration. “So my Axiom mission itself was a very good example of how collaboration works in the field of spaceflight or space exploration, and I think it serves as a very good beacon for all the other sectors as well,” he said, adding that such partnerships open doors for future cooperation.
Group Captain Prasanth Nair, another astronaut selected for Gaganyaan, urged patience. “I can only say, just be patient. Everything is happening exactly the way it has to happen,” he said in response to queries about delays.
Describing Gaganyaan as an “inflection point”, Nair said, “That inflection point, if I may dare say, is going to be the Gaganyaan moment when India puts an Indian astronaut on an Indian rocket, in an Indian capsule, from an Indian spaceport here, and brings him back safely.”
He stressed that if successful, India would become only the fourth nation to independently send humans to space. “When India does something, it does it differently,” he said, invoking the principle of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas”.
“This time also, when we go to space and the Gaganyaan moment happens, when an Indian human goes to space, the rest of the world, especially those who cannot send their own astronauts, will say, ‘Thank God India went’, because once we go, we will hold that space for all of us,” Nair added.
Follow us
