Bengaluru: The Gaganyaan mission — India’s first human spaceflight programme — is progressing well, with nearly 90 per cent of the development work completed, ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan said on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the promotional event for the Emerging Science, Technology, and Innovation Conclave (ESTIC-2025), scheduled to be held from November 3 to 5 in New Delhi, Narayanan said the mission has reached a crucial stage of readiness.
“The Gaganyaan mission is going very well. A lot of technology development is required — the rocket must be human-rated, the orbital module and environmental control systems must be developed, along with the crew escape and parachute systems, and various human-centric components,” he explained.
Narayanan confirmed that around 90 per cent of the developmental work is now complete. “Three uncrewed missions are planned before the crewed flight. In the first uncrewed mission, Vyommitra will fly. We are working to achieve the first crewed mission by early 2027,” he added.
Earlier, on August 24, 2025, ISRO successfully conducted the first integrated air drop test for the Gaganyaan programme at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. The test validated the end-to-end performance of the crew module’s critical parachute-based deceleration system.
“For the Gaganyaan programme, the integrated air drop test was crucial — during re-entry, nine parachutes must work in synchrony for a safe splashdown. We lifted a simulated module using a helicopter to about three kilometres and successfully carried out the splashdown using all nine parachutes,” Narayanan said.
