ISRO’s plans for sending astronauts to space and India’s second mission to the moon are all chalked out! By December 2021, India is set on sending astronauts to space, and, the India’s second moon mission will happen in mid-April of THIS YEAR!
Only the 11th day of 2019, and there are so many great news that make India scale new heights as a progressive country. India will also be the world’s fastest-growing economy, beating China and now this!
Chandrayaan – 2 Set to Happen In Mid – April
ISRO chairman, K Sivan announced this Friday, that Chandrayaan – 2 is planned for April of 2019. The space agency had planned for an earlier date to set the plan in action, but that did not happen as there were some tests that could not be conducted.
Although this is the third time that the mission has been delayed, it has been confirmed that the mission will definitely happen this April. The initial plan was to send Chandrayaan – 2 in October 2018 which postponed to the time slot from January to February 16, 2019. But as that target wasn’t met, the next date is in the middle of April 2019 (March 25 to April end according to reports).
The construction and working of Chandrayaan – 2 will cost around Rs. 800 crores and it is an advanced version of the previous mission to the moon, Chandrayaan – 1, which took place about 10 years ago.
India’s Mission to Space – Gaganyaan
India’s plan to send astronauts to space was first announced by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Independence day of 2018, ‘a son or a daughter of India will go to space’ by 2022, which also marks 75 years of India’s Independence. Apparently, it will happen earlier than promised, in 2021.
This mission, Gaganyaan, will help make India the fourth nation to independently send astronauts to space. Gaganyaan has been granted a total amount of Rs. 100 crores by the cabinet.
The astronauts will be called Vyomnauts as ‘Vyom’ in Sanskrit means ‘space’. Around three astronauts will be sent through this mission, including women astronauts for about seven days. These astronauts will be trained in India initially and then in Russia for advanced training. Rakesh Sharma was the first Indian to travel into space, albeit it was a Russian mission.
In 2014, an experiment was conducted using prototypes, which enabled ISRO to make a spacesuit that will be used by the Indian astronauts when they will be sent into space from Sriharikota.
India has come a long way since her Independence and we wish the aspiring missions bring immeasurable success and put India on the map once again!