India’s prestigious astronaut program Gaganyaan has achieved a key milestone. Glavkosmos, a subsidiary of the Roscosmos, the Russian Space Agency, has released a press note on Thursday citing the status of the training of the four candidates selected for the Gaganyaan program.
The four candidates, all selected from the Indian Air Force are undergoing training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Moscow. Glavkosmos expects the training to be complete by the first quarter of 2021. The launch of the Gaganyaan mission carrying three of them is expected during early 2022.
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| An Indian astronaut-elect undergoing zero-g training at GCTC, Source: ROSCOSMOS |
As per the release, the Indian astronaut-elects would undergo an elaborate course on medical and physical training, Russian language, and studying the configuration, structure and systems of the Soyuz crewed spacecraft (the Gaganyaan module is modelled on the Soyuz system).
Furthermore, they have completed training on crew actions in three major abnormal landing scenarios. The landing in wooded and marshy areas in winter (completed in February 2020), on the water surface (completed in June 2020), in the steppe in summer (completed in July 2020).
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| 2018 selection cosmonaut (Russian astronauts) candidates training on the Il-76MDK aircraft. Source: ROSCOSMOS |
The astronaut-elects also experienced zero-g aboard a specialized IL-76MDK aircraft modified specially for simulating a zero-g environment. In July, training to lift aboard a helicopter while evacuating from the descent module landing point was also completed.
The training left for the astronaut-elects are aboard a centrifuge and in a hyperbaric chamber. These training regimes helps their body to adjust for sustaining spaceflight factors, such as G-force, hypoxia and pressure drops.
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| The centrifuge used in GCTC for high-g training, Source: ROSCOSMOS |
The press release said that all Indian astronauts are doing well and the training is back in full swing. The practical training was halted for some time during April since Russia was put down under lockdown following the COVID-19 outbreak. Theory sessions happened as usual, but the practical training being halted created a sense of concern among Indian authorities on whether the deadline could be met for the launch. Fortunately, the training resumed in full-swing in late May and the Russian authorities are confident of meeting the deadline for the training schedule.
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