"Gaganyaan Uncrewed Mission with Vyommitra Targeted for Q4 2026"
HLVM3 (Human Rated Launch Vehicle Mark 3)
human-certified variant of LVM3 rocket for carrying crew to orbit
Crew Escape System (CES)
abort mechanism that pulls Crew Module away from rocket during a launch emergency
India's human spaceflight ambition is the culmination of over five decades of incremental capability-building by ISRO, established in 1969. From the first indigenous satellite Aryabhata to the Mars Orbiter Mission and the Chandrayaan series, ISRO progressively developed the launch vehicle, propulsion, and systems-engineering expertise that a crewed mission demands. The formal commitment to human spaceflight came in 2018, when the Government approved the Gaganyaan programme with an initial outlay of approximately ₹10,000 crore, with the mission objective of placing a three-member crew in low Earth orbit (LEO) for up to three days and returning them safely — making India only the fourth nation after the USA, Russia, and China to achieve independent human spaceflight.
The institutional architecture supporting this ambition has been deliberately restructured. IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre), established in 2020, opened the sector to private participation, ending ISRO's monopoly. The Space Policy 2023 formalised the division of roles: ISRO leads research and national missions, IN-SPACe regulates and promotes private players, and NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) handles commercial operations. India's long-term targets — a Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS) by 2035 and a crewed lunar mission by 2040 — situate Gaganyaan as the foundational first rung of a multi-decade strategic ladder, with an explicit goal of capturing 10% of the global space market by 2030.
The Gaganyaan mission architecture centres on an Orbital Module comprising a Crew Module (CM) and a Service Module (SM), launched atop the Human Rated Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (HLVM3) — a human-rated variant of India's heaviest operational rocket, formerly known as GSLV Mk III. Human-rating is a rigorous certification process ensuring the launch vehicle and spacecraft meet stringent reliability and safety standards for carrying crew — a qualitatively different bar from unmanned missions. The HLVM3 has completed development and ground testing of all propulsion stages and structures, a critical milestone.
Crew safety is the programme's central engineering challenge. The Crew Escape System (CES) is designed to pull the Crew Module away from the launch vehicle in the event of an abort at any phase of ascent. All five motor types for the CES have been developed and static-tested. The TV-D1 (Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1) successfully validated the CES in-flight. Complementing this, the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) manages cabin atmosphere, temperature, and life-sustaining conditions; its engineering model has been developed and tested. …
With reference to India's Gaganyaan Human Spaceflight Programme, consider the following statements:
1.The Human Rated Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (HLVM3) is a human-certified variant of the GSLV Mk III rocket.
2.The TV-D1 mission was conducted to validate the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS).
3.The first uncrewed Gaganyaan mission will carry the Vyommitra half-humanoid robot.
4.The Union Cabinet approved a revised budget of ₹20,193 crore for the Human Spaceflight Programme in 2024.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Which of the following correctly describes the purpose of the Crew Escape System (CES) in the Gaganyaan mission?
Consider the following pairs regarding India's space institutional framework under Space Policy 2023:
1.ISRO — Research, development, and national space missions
2.IN-SPACe — Commercial operations and revenue generation from space assets
3.NSIL — Regulation and promotion of private sector space participation
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
Assertion (A): India's Gaganyaan programme follows a step-by-step test flight sequence — including abort system validation, deceleration system air-drop tests, and uncrewed orbital missions — before the first crewed flight.
Reason (R): Human-rating of a launch vehicle and spacecraft requires each critical safety system to be independently validated before crew is placed aboard.
Which of the following is correct?
With reference to the Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS), which of the following statements is/are correct?
1.BAS is planned to comprise five modules and be operationalised by 2035.
2.The development and launch of the first module, BAS-01, has been approved by the Union Cabinet.
3.BAS is intended to replace the International Space Station as the primary global orbital laboratory.
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