Pilots might stand a better chance at being chosen for Gaganyaan mission

ISRO chairman K Sivan addressing a conference in | Representational image | Praveen Jain/ThePrint

ISRO chief K Sivan said they were looking for people with flying experience to send on India’s first manned space flight being planned for 2022.

New Delhi: The astronauts on the human space mission ‘Gaganyaan’ will mostly be pilots, hinted Indian Space Research Organisation scientists Friday.

“We are looking for people with sufficient flying experience,” said an ISRO scientist requesting anonymity.

ISRO Chairman K Sivan said the Indian Air Force and other agencies will play a major role during the selection of astronauts for the human space mission project.

ISRO chief K Sivan | Praveen Jain/ThePrint

Another scientist said the Defence Research and Development Organisation too will play a major role in this endeavour.

Addressing a press conference here, Sivan said the first unmanned mission for ‘Gaganyaan’ has been planned for December 2020, the second unmanned mission for July 2021 and the final manned mission by December 2021.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the ‘Gaganyaan’ project envisaging sending three humans to space by 2022. -PTI