Cabinet Approves 10,000 Crore ‘Gaganyaan’ project

A budget of Rs 10,000 crore has been cleared by the Union Cabinet on Friday for India's first human  spaceflight programme 'Gaganyaan'.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning an ambitious manned mission to send a 3 member crew for minimum 7 days in space.

The space agency wants to make the ambitious manned mission Gaganyaan "more and more" indigenous by utilising the facilities available in the country", said ISRO Chairman K Sivan.

"In order to meet the Prime Minister's (Narendra Modi) vision (of sending humans to space) by 2022, to undertake some testing we may go abroad. But we have not decided that," he added.

Addressing nation from the ramparts of Red Fort on August 15, this year, Modi had said,"Our country has been making a lot of progress in the area of space (science). When India celebrates its 75th Independence Day, or even before that, an Indian son or daughter will undertake a manned space mission on board 'Gaganyaan', carrying the national flag."

The space agency is aiming to undertake the first unmanned programme under the Gaganyaan project by December 2020. If Gaganyaan is successful, India would become the fourth nation to achieve the feat after US, Russia and China.

(Featured image : Deccan Herald)