The Gaganyaan is an Indian crewed orbital spacecraft and the flagship project of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme (IHSP), a mission/project by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to demonstrate indigenous human spaceflight capability. Preliminary studies for the spacecraft began in 2006 under the generic name "Orbital Vehicle," and the mission was formally announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 August 2018. The project aims to make India the fourth nation, after the Soviet Union (Russia), the United States, and China, to launch its own crewed spacecraft.
The mission is designed to launch a crew of three members to a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) of 400 km for a three-to-seven-day expedition and return them safely to Earth with a splashdown in the Indian sea waters. The spacecraft, known as the Orbital Module (OM), consists of a habitable Crew Module (CM) manufactured by HAL and a Service Module (SM) containing propulsion and power systems. It will be launched by the Human-rated LVM3 (HLVM3) rocket, a modified version of the LVM3 launch vehicle. Crew safety is paramount, ensured by the Crew Escape System (CES), a Puller Type mechanism that can rapidly detach the CM in an emergency, and the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS), which maintains an Earth-like environment inside the capsule. The CM is protected by an ablative heat shield for re-entry and uses a multi-stage parachute system for deceleration before splashdown.
The project is a precursor to India's goal of establishing its own space station, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS), by 2035. The first crewed flight, H1, was originally planned for 2022 but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and technological complexities; it is now targeted for the first quarter of 2027. Uncrewed test flights, including one carrying the half-humanoid robot Vyommitra, are scheduled before the crewed mission. The four astronaut-designates, all Indian Air Force officers, were announced in February 2024.