# Gaganyaan: Inside India's Historic Crewed Space Program The **Gaganyaan** mission is poised to be India's biggest milestone in space exploration since its inception. By launching a three-member crew to a **400 km Low Earth Orbit (LEO)** for a three-day mission, ISRO will become only the fourth agency in history to build, launch, and recover a crewed orbital spacecraft. --- ## 1. Meet the Astronaut-Designates ISRO officially introduced the four selected Indian Air Force fighter pilots chosen for the mission: - Group Captain **Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair** - Group Captain **Ajit Krishnan** - Group Captain **Angad Pratap** - Wing Commander **Subhanshu Shukla** They completed rigorous physical, psychological, and survival training in Star City, Russia, and are currently undergoing mission-specific simulator training in Bengaluru. --- ## 2. Critical Precursor Test Flights (TV-D Missions) Human spaceflight demands near-perfect reliability. ISRO is conducting several safety flight tests: - **TV-D1 (Test Vehicle Demonstration 1):** Successfully launched in October 2023. It demonstrated the in-flight escape system, proving that if a launcher malfunctions mid-air, the crew escape module can safely pull the astronauts away and deploy parachutes. - **Vyommitra Robot Flight:** ISRO will launch *Vyommitra*, a humanoid robot with half-humanoid anatomy, inside an uncrewed capsule. Vyommitra will monitor cockpit environmental parameters, read telemetry, and simulate crew communications. --- ## 3. Re-entry, Parachutes, and Recovery The Gaganyaan module will utilize the atmosphere to decelerate. Once it descends to a safe altitude, a cluster of parachutes will deploy, soft-splashing the capsule into the **Arabian Sea** near the Gujarat/Mumbai coast. Special recovery drills are being perfected by the Indian Navy and Coast Guard.