India's Space Agency Announces Four Astronauts for First Spaceflight Mission

India's Space Agency Announces Four Astronauts for First Spaceflight Mission

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi revealed the names of four astronauts selected for the country's first crewed mission to low-Earth orbit—the Gaganyaan Mission. Gaganyaan means "sky craft" in Hindi. The mission involves the launch of a crewed spacecraft over the next year to an orbit of 400 kilometers with a return landing in the Indian Ocean. Prime Minister Modi awarded the four crew members—all of them air force officers—"astronaut wings" at a space center in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala state on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, during their first public appearance after months of rigorous training. The four astronauts undergoing training for India's human spaceflight mission are: 

• Group Captain Prashanth BalaKrishnan Nair

• Group Captain Ajit Krishnan

• Group Captain Angad Prathap

• Wing Commander Shubhansku Shukla

Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, a former Indian Air Force pilot, flew aboard the Soyuz T-11 spacecraft on April 3, 1984, for the sixth expedition to the Soviet Salyut 7 space station. This was part of the Soviet Interkosmos program. To date, Sharma is the only Indian citizen to travel in space.

Only the United States, Russia, and China have sent their own crewed missions into space. Astronauts from more than three dozen other countries have made space trips aboard either U.S. or Russian missions.

Video Credit: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)/NDTV

Duration: 2 minutes

Release Date: Feb. 27, 2024 

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