Kochi/New Delhi: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced the names of the four astronauts who will be in the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Gaganyaan during his visit at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Gaganyaan is slated to be launched in 2024-25.
The four chosen Indian Air Force pilots are Group Captain Prashanth Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap, and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla.
The four astronauts were trained at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia. It is the same center where Rakesh Sharma underwent training. Rakesh Sharma was the first Indian to go into space in 1984.
Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC), at Star City, is about 30 kilometers north of Moscow. It was named after the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin.
The center offers high-tech training facilities, including integrated simulators. It also offers survival training for many possible landing situations, including mountains, woodlands, marshes, deserts, in the Arctic and on the sea.
The Gaganyaan mission is India's first human space flight program, for which extensive preparations are underway at various ISRO centres. (with Agency inputs)
