India to launch first manned space mission by 2022: PM Narendra Modi

Before the country celebrates its 75th Independence Day, India will place an Indian in space, the PM said

India will send a human to space by 2022, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his Independence Day speech on Wednesday.

The project would cost about Rs 100 billion. If India succeeds, it will be the fourth country to achieve this landmark.

Modi said, “I want to give the country some good news: We have resolved that by 2022, before we celebrate 75 years of Independence, India will place an Indian in space.”

“India is proud of our scientists, who are excelling in their research and are at the forefront of innovation. In 2022, or if possible before, India will unfurl the tricolour in space,” said the Prime Minister.

K VijayRaghavan, principal scientific advisor to the Government of India, said the Indian Space Research Organisation was well on track to do this. Technologies being used and developed will have many benefits to society.

K Sivan, chairman, Isro, said, “The PM has given a target of 2022 and it’s our duty to meet it. We are already on the job and we have completed many levels of the experiment. We need to prioritise and achieve the target.”

Isro is planning to send a human being to an orbit in the space for seven days. Unmanned flights will be sent to space two years from now. The organisation is in the process of developing a life-support system for the human mission.

Isro is gearing up for the second demonstration test of the reusable launch vehicle (RLV) next year. However, this time the RLV will be tested on an airstrip and not on the sea. Isro conducted the first demonstration test of India’s winged body aerospace vehicle on May 23, 2016.

The third experiment will include testing the RLV from the orbit. The vehicle will be integrated into a new rocket, which will take it up to the orbit. There, the vehicle will get detached and re-enter the earth’s atmosphere before land, said Isro officials.