Ooty: P Veeramuthuvel, the Director of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, stated on Saturday that ISRO is aiming to have a space station and send an Indian astronaut to the moon by 2035 and 2040 respectively. 

While talking to ANI, Veeramuthuvel said, "On the mission to send a man to the moon, Director of the Chandrayaan-3 mission P Veeramuthuvel says, “...The Prime Minister and the ISRO chairman have already said that by 2040 we wanted to have an Indian astronaut on the moon and also to have our space station by 2035. These are very ambitious works that ISRO has taken up and we are working towards that.”

Woman Robot Astronaut "Vyommitra" to fly into Space ahead of ISRO's ambitious “Gaganyaan" mission

Earlier on February 5, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology Jitendra Singh announced Woman Robot Astronaut "Vyommitra" will fly into Space ahead of ISRO's ambitious “Gaganyaan" mission, which will be India’s first human manned Space Flight carrying Indian Astronauts into Space. 

The uncrewed "Vyommitra" Mission is scheduled for the third quarter of this year while a manned mission “Gaganyaan” is scheduled to be launched next year, that is 2025, Singh said. 

“Vyommitra” is a name derived from two Sanskrit words namely, “Vyoma” (meaning Space) and “Mitra” (meaning Friend). This Female Robot Astronaut, said the Minister, is equipped with the capability to monitor Module Parameters, issue Alerts and execute Life Support operations. It can perform tasks such as operating six panels and responding to the queries, he explained. 

 Singh  further elaborated that "Vyommitra" Astronaut is designed in such a manner so as to simulate human functions in the Space environment and interact with the Life Support System. 

Pertinent to mention that as a run up to the launch of India's first-ever manned Space flight named “Gaganyaan", the first Test Vehicle Flight TV D1 was accomplished on 21st October last year. This was meant to qualify the crew escape system and parachute system.The human rating of the launch vehicle is complete. All the propulsion stages are qualified. All the preparations are in place. 

While the uncrewed unmanned Robot Flight “Vyommitra” will take place this year, “Gaganyaan” will  be launched next year. 

The Gaganyaan project envisages demonstration of human space capabilities by  launching a crew of astronauts into an orbit of 400 Kilometres and then bringing back these human astronauts safely to earth by landing them in India's sea waters. 

Meanwhile, Singh informed that Chandrayaan 3, which landed on the South Pole of the Moon on August 23 last year, is following its normal expected course  of action. The vital inputs sent by it will be shared in course of time. (With inputs from PTI)