shukla-returns-to-cockpit-in-december

IAF pilot-turned-astronaut Shukla, who became the first Indian astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS), said the formal training for the Gaganyaan mission would begin soon. He is scheduled to fly a fighter jet again in December. This flight is part of his ongoing specialist training for the ISRO’s Gaganyaan mission.  

 

Four Indian astronauts have been selected, all from the Indian Air Force. They are being trained for the Gaganyaan mission, expected to take place in 2027, when the home-built LVM-3 will place at least two of them in a low Earth orbit.

 

"When I got into training for Axiom-4, I did my training up to the mission. It will not be that compact for the first Gaganyaan mission. These missions are so complex that you want to be really sure when you send something up. That is the activity that is happening very intensely. All the systems are being discussed, revised. The philosophy is being checked. That kind of de-brief is happening," he said at the sidelines of the India International Space Conclave organised by the Indian Space Association (ISpA).  

 

 

Shukla said he shared his experiences about the Axiom-4 mission and the systems and information gained from his 18-day stay at the orbital laboratory with the ISRO engineers, who were identifying the dissimilarities between the Gaganyaan mission and other human spaceflights to identify the gaps, if there are any.

 

"The change that has occurred is that after my training and my mission, the experience we gained has been used to create a template," he said.

 

The major benefit of the Axiom-4 mission for India proved to be that the Indian engineers were comparing everything they were doing with the experience gathered during Shukla’s stay at the orbital lab.

 

"The problem of space missions is that there is no one right answer. You can do it in 10 different ways. What I can do is verify the robustness of what we are doing. That activity is happening," he said, adding, “I don't think there is any direct change that is happening in anything we are doing in G-1 (the first uncrewed mission under the Gaganyaan programme). Yes, the analysis is happening, and if we feel there is a need, the changes will be incorporated," Shukla said.