Unravelling a best-kept secret, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi revealed the names of the four Indian astronauts who will be taking part in the country's 'Gaganyaan' Human spaceflight mission. The astronaut candidates are Indian Air Force test Pilots, who have been specifically shortlisted and trained to undergo the rigours of spaceflight. They are -Group Captain Prashanth Balakrishnan, Group Captain Ajith Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap, Wing Commader Shubhanshu Shukla. 


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Having completed 13 months of rigorous training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre, near Moscow, Russia and various levels of theoretical and physical training in India, the astronauts are all set to undergo training in the US. Earlier, ISRO Chairman Dr. S. Somanath had confirmed to Zee Media that the US leg of training would happen soon at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Texas.


It was 40 years ago, in 1984, that Indian Air Force Pilot Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to travel to space. He did so as part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme. Gaganyaan is India's own attempt at launching astronauts to space on a largely homegrown mission, with support from US, Russia, France, among others. Of these, Russia and US are the pioneers of human spaceflight, since the Cold War era. 


As part of the Russian training at Star City, near Moscow, the Indian astronaut candidates were put through survival training in snow, in deserts, on water. Such a training is necessary to ensure that the crew can survive an emergency landing in any such hostile terrain and keep themselves safe, until help can arrive. 


They also experienced micro-gravity(weightlessness) while flying in special aircraft that are meant to induce such a space-like condition. Astronauts have to be able to handle high G-forces that are experienced during spaceflight. People on earth experience a sustained load of 1G Force(which means that a person would experience and feel their actual body weight). However, those who are travelling in rapidly accelerating/decelerating fighter planes or rockets experience multi-fold G Force. Zee Media had earlier reported that Indian astronauts would experience a sustained load of 4G for about 16minutes, when ascending to space. Effectively, this means that an astronaut who weighs 70kgs, would feel like he weighs 280kgs. 


Fighter pilots are known to handle such high G Force scenarios and encounter almost 9G during their missions and training. Which is why fighter pilots are the preferred candidates for astronaut training. However, in the case of a mid-flight abort of the astronaut-carrying capsule, the Gaganyaan astronauts would experience loads of 12G, for a few seconds. 


US Training of Gaganyaan Astronauts


The Indian astronaut candidates completed their Russian training and returned to India in 2021. Since then, they have also undergone several theoretical and practical sessions at ISRO's Human Spaceflight Centre and the Indian Air Force's Institute of Aerospace Medicine. They have also been visiting various ISRO centres, such as ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram and Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.


As a part of the Gaganyaan team, they are also assisting ISRO with the design and development of the crew-carrying capsule. At India's Human Spaceflight Centre in Bengaluru, they have also been undergoing simulator training and physical training. 


In June 2023, pathbreaking initiatives towards Indo-US Space Cooperation were announced during the Joint Statement delivered by Prime Minister Modi and President Biden. It included the announcement by NASA to provide advanced training to Indian astronauts at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, with a goal of mounting a joint effort to the International Space Station in 2024. 


Dr. S.Somanath had told Zee Media that it is on India's wish list to have an astronaut flying to the International Space Station (ISS), as India's only reference point for Human Spaceflight is that of Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma (Retd), who flew in 1984. That maiden spaceflight by an Indian was on a Soviet-era crew capsule and since then the technologies have changed drastically. 


"The US Human spaceflight scenario is completely changed and the launches are being carried out by the private firms and it is not being done by the US Government, as was the case earlier. As per the India-US (ISRO-NASA) arrangement, NASA will sponsor a seat in the private launch that will happen to the ISS, our astronaut will undergo training at their facility and will then be sent to the International Space Station," the ISRO Chief had told Zee Media. 


As part of the announcement made by President Biden, Indian astronaut candidates would be offered advanced training at NASA's Johnson Space Center, which is also known in the US as the Hub of Human Spaceflight. Established in 1961, this facility in Houston, Texas, started off as the Manned Spacecraft Centre, the home and Mission Control Center for the US Human Spaceflight programme. In 1973, the facility was renamed in honour of the late President and Texas Native Lyndon B Johnson. In more than six decades of operation, the facility has made notable advances in science, technology, engineering and medicine, thereby enabling crewed space exploration.