ISRO in talks with IAM to provide medical support for Gaganyaan crew members

PUNE: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is in talks with the Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM), a centre of the Indian Air Force, to provide medical support to Gaganyaan's crew members.

It is to be noted that Gaganyaan is India's maiden manned space mission in which the country's premier space agency is planning to send a three-member crew to space for seven days by 2022.

"ISRO has contacted us to collaborate with IAM which conducts research in aerospace medicine and trains airmen and pilots," Bipin Puri, Director General, Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS), told PTI.

IAM is based in Bengaluru and is affiliated to the AFMS. "Since the infrastructure such as simulators at IAM is one of the best in the country, ISRO wants to join hands with IAM to train the crew members of Gaganyaan mission," Puri added.

Talking to reporters, Air Marshal Rajvir Singh, Director General, Medical Services (AIR) said the main challenge is to provide life support to crew members in space.

"The complexities of life support in space are enormous....And IAM is the only centre in the country to contribute in this direction. We are currently in discussion with ISRO to provide full spectrum of life support to the crew members of the space mission," he said.

Singh remarked that IAM is the only institute in India and South East Asia which conducts research in aerospace medicine, he said. "We also conduct programs for pilots and airmen to improve their effectiveness in the cockpit," he was quoted as saying by PTI.

(with agency inputs)