ISRO to include civilian STEM experts in astronaut cadre for crewed space missions, including Gaganyaan
ISRO’s astronaut selection committee recommended that of the total 10 Indian astronauts in the second batch, four should be civilian specialists with STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) backgrounds.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to open its astronaut cadre to civilians for the first time, The Times of India reported on Monday. This marks a shift in how ISRO is preparing to send humans into space in future, including and beyond the Gaganyaan missions.
Mission Gaganyaan is ISRO’s first crewed spaceflight programme, designed to launch a three-member crew into an orbit of 400km for a three-day mission and bring them back safely to Earth by landing them in the Indian waters.
Civilians in space
After due deliberation, ISRO’s committee on astronaut selection and management recommended that of the total 10 Indian astronauts in the second batch, four should be civilian specialists with STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) backgrounds while six will be mission pilots from military aviation background.
In the first batch of four astronauts, all the test pilots were from the Indian Air Force (IAF) as the focus was flying India’s first crewed missions safely.
"While those from the first batch — Air Commodore Prashanth B Nair, Gp Capt Shubhanshu Shukla, Gp Capt Ajit Krishnan and Gp Capt Angad Prathap — were all fighter plane pilots turned, the second batch is expected to also include combat helicopter pilots from IAF," a source told The Times of India.
Although the proposed second batch will have four civilians, they would begin joining crewed missions to space from the fourth Gaganyaan mission onwards, the newspaper reported citing another source.
Training civilians for space
This shift signals a move that aims at building a sustained astronaut cadre to carry out regular missions, scientific work in orbit and ultimately establishing India’s planned space station.
Even though the move would be a first for India, it is on expected lines, given that world over, countries have chosen astronauts with military backgrounds until the technology is mature enough to send civilians.
While the astronaut strength is set at 10 for the second batch, the committee has estimated that the third batch will require 12 astronauts—two mission pilots and 10 civilian specialists. In all, the committee has proposed an astronaut cadre strength of 40.
The selection, training and mission preparation — the full turnaround cycle for an astronaut — is reported to last 4.5 years. ISRO currently operates a temporary astronaut-training centre and is yet to begin establishing a full-fledged facility.
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