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Prepping for India’s Yuri Gagarin moment
India selects first set of Gaganyaan astronauts. Let’s review the country’s progress in putting people in space.
India selects first set of Gaganyaan astronauts
Unveiling four years of secrecy, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on February 27 the first four astronauts selected to fly on the country’s initial set of human spaceflight missions mid-decade via ISRO’s ambitious Gaganyaan program. The selectees are all test pilots and Group Captains, namely Prashanth Nair, Angad Prathap, Ajit Krishnan and Shubhanshu Shukla. They have received extensive training in India and Russia, and at least one of them will receive advanced training in the US at NASA facilities sometime this year.
The announcement of Gaganyaan astronauts is a great time to review India’s progress in putting people in space. Let’s do that with this human spaceflight special of my Indian Space Progress newsletter! 🧑🏽🚀
But first, where are the women astronauts? When asked, ISRO says women aren’t in this astronaut batch because being a test pilot was a key requirement, which India had none of in females at the time of selection. Well, that might be true but India does have the highest global percentage of female…
