Training for Gaganyaan continuing with full energy: Astronaut Prashanth Nair

Indian Air Force Group Captain Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, who is part of India's Gaganyaan mission, on Wednesday said that training for it is continuing with full energy.

He was speaking to reporters after interacting with the students of Model School Thycaud here.

Nair said that India will, in 2027, send its first person to space "from our capsule", but a lot of tests remain to be carried out before that.


He said that first a robot -- 'Vyom mitra' -- will be sent as part of the tests and then there will be many other missions.

"There will be a continuous programme and the centre of it is going to be between Thiruvananthapuram and Bengaluru," he said.

Regarding the training for the mission, he said "it is continuing with full energy" and that the entire Gaganyaan team was "indebted" to the Indian government, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Air Force for training them well and selecting them.

Group Captains Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Angad Pratap, Ajit Krishnan, and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla are the four-member Gaganyaan crew.

Regarding his interactions with the schoolchildren, he termed it as a "good experience".

He said he spoke to the children about the Gaganyaan mission and the training for it.

According to ISRO, the Gaganyaan programme aims to demonstrate India's capability to launch a crewed spacecraft into low Earth orbit for three days.