'Will Not Have Any Impact': ISRO Chief Denies Possibilities in Gaganyaan Mission Delay After PSLV Launch Failure

Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman V Narayanan on Saturday denied any possibility of delay in the Gaganyaan mission following the failure of the PSLV rocket mission earlier this month.

The ISRO chief said that the organisation is currently studying the cause of PSLV mission failure, and called it an individual mission which would not affect the progress of the Gaganyaan mission.

"These two are independent programs, and it (failure of PSLV) will not have any impact. The investigation is ongoing," V Narayanan told ANI.

On January 12, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C62 mission carrying the 'Anvesha'/EOS-N1 satellite and 15 co-passenger satellites launched by India encountered an anomaly during the end of the PS3 burn stage, with ISRO chairman V Naryanan stating that "a deviation in the vehicle's flight path" was observed.

"A detailed analysis has been initiated," the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) posted on X.

ISRO Chairman V Narayanan said a disturbance was observed in the vehicle at the end of the third stage, which was otherwise proceeding as expected.

"Today, we have attempted the PSLV C62 / EOS - N1 Mission. The PSLV vehicle is a four-stage vehicle with two solid stages and two liquid stages. The vehicle's performance near the end of the third stage was as expected. (However), near the end of the third stage, we are seeing increased disturbance in the vehicle. Subsequently, a deviation in the vehicle's flight path is observed. We are analysing the data and will come back at the earliest," Narayanan said.

This was ISRO's first major launch of 2026. The mission aimed to place an Earth observation satellite into orbit from the First Launch Pad (FLP) at Sriharikota.

The mission was carried out by NewSpace India Limited and represents the ninth dedicated commercial mission to build and launch an Earth Observation satellite. For the first time, a single Indian private company, Dhruva Space, based in Hyderabad, contributed seven satellites to the mission.