New Delhi, Dec 5 (NationPress) Within the next three weeks, India is poised to initiate its first uncrewed or experimental mission as part of the Gaganyaan project, which aims to demonstrate ISRO’s human spaceflight capabilities. A crewed spaceflight mission is projected for October-December 2026, as informed to the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

In detailing the timeline for the Gaganyaan Mission during the Rajya Sabha session, Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh noted, “The initial uncrewed (experimental) mission is set for late 2024. Additional uncrewed missions are planned for Q3 2025 and Q1 2026 respectively.”

Responding to a query from Rajeev Shukla of the Congress party, MoS Singh mentioned that for the inaugural uncrewed mission, the solid and liquid propulsion stages of the human-rated launch vehicles are ready for flight integration. He added, “The C32 Cryogenic stage is nearing completion, and the structures for both the Crew Module and Service Module have been finalized. Flight integration activities are currently underway.”

The Minister cited a shortage of semiconductor components as a significant challenge for the project.

“The primary challenges and risks pertain to the uninterrupted supply of raw materials, semiconductor components, and the timely delivery of hardware from the industry,” stated MoS Singh.

He also outlined measures taken to address these challenges, mentioning, “We have identified multiple sources for the supply of critical mission elements. The critical issues regarding the timely delivery of subsystems are being closely monitored for intervention by higher management.”

To further support the initiative, a Gaganyaan Industry Meet was held to raise awareness among industries about the quality standards necessary for human space missions and the importance of timely hardware delivery.

Regarding the crew training, he noted that two out of three semesters of training for the Gaganyatris have been completed, and the Independent Training Simulator along with the Static Mockup Simulators have been realized.

Discussing future human missions, MoS Singh stated, “The Government has recently unveiled an expanded vision for the Space Programme, which includes the Bharatiya Antariksha Station by 2035 and an Indian Moon Landing by 2040. Future missions to the Bharatiya Antariksha Station and the Indian Moon Landing will also involve humans.”