India is moving closer to a historic milestone in space exploration as ISRO's ambitious Gaganyaan programme enters its final phase. The mission aims to demonstrate the country's human spaceflight capability by sending a three-member crew into a 400 km low-Earth orbit for a three-day mission, with the first crewed launch targeted for early 2027.
At the heart of the mission is the human-rated LVM3 rocket (HLVM3), a modified version of ISRO's proven heavy-lift launch vehicle. The rocket has been reconfigured with advanced safety and reliability features to meet rigid human-rating standards.
It comprises solid, liquid, and cryogenic stages, along with a critical Crew Escape System (CES). This system is designed with quick-acting, high-burn-rate motors to rapidly pull the crew module to safety in the event of an emergency during launch or ascent.
Selected Astronauts for the mission
Four Indian Air Force officers - Prasanth Nair, Angad Pratap, Ajit Krishnan, and Shubhanshu Shukla, have been selected as astronauts for the mission. Once launched, the crew module is expected to safely splash down in the Arabian Sea, where the Indian Navy will carry out recovery operations.
ISRO has been rigorously testing key systems to ensure astronaut safety. A major milestone was achieved on April 10, 2026, with the successful completion of the second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
In this test, a simulated crew module weighing around 5.7 tonnes was lifted to an altitude of 3 km by an Indian Air Force Chinook helicopter and released over the sea. The test validated the parachute-based deceleration system under realistic mission conditions.
This follows earlier successful tests, including the first integrated air drop test conducted on August 24, 2025, which demonstrated the end-to-end performance of the crew module's deceleration system using a helicopter drop.
Additionally, ISRO completed a series of qualification tests for drogue parachutes on December 18-19, 2025, at the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) in Chandigarh. These tests were carried out with the support of ISRO centres and DRDO labs, marking steady progress in qualifying the parachute system for human spaceflight.
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh praised ISRO's latest achievement, calling the successful IADT-02 test a crucial step toward mission readiness. With an estimated budget of ₹10,000 crore, the Gaganyaan programme reflects India's commitment to advancing its space capabilities and ensuring astronaut safety through cutting-edge technologies, including life-support systems and crew-escape mechanisms.
Before the final crewed mission, ISRO plans to conduct three uncrewed precursor flights to validate all systems. As preparations accelerate, Gaganyaan stands as a symbol of India's growing prowess in space technology, bringing the nation closer to joining an elite group of countries capable of independent human spaceflight.
