- ISRO on January 11, 2019 announced that ‘Gaganyaan’, the project to send a manned mission to space by 2022, would start soon at the newly created Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC).
- As per ISRO chairman K. Sivan, the Human Space Flight Centre, based in Bengaluru, will carry out all activities related to the human programme. Under it will function the Gaganyaan Project.
- Unnikrishnan Nair has been appointed as the director of the new Centre. He has led ISRO’s Advanced Space Transportation Programme at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and has already worked in the area as the director of the Human Space Flight Project.
- ISRO’s new facility would be staffed by a dedicated team, with ISRO planning to deploy 800 to 900 people over time on the project.
- R. Hutton has been named as the project director of GAGANYAAN. He was helmed the PSLV light lift vehicle programme at the VSSC in Thiruvananthapuram.
- ISRO’s Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram would be a primary source of talent for the new centre.
- As per the ISRO, the actual flight with crew is targeted to happen by December 2021 — to meet the Prime Minister’s goal of August 2022, India’s 75th Independence anniversary.
- The mission will be capable of carrying three Indian astronauts and will orbit the Earth for seven days.
