India’s first manned space flight by December 2021, says ISRO chief K Sivan

New Delhi: Putting behind the failed efforts of establishing contact with Lander Vikram, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) now plans to is now focus on its first human spaceflight mission — Gaganyaan — set for 2021.

While addressing students at IIT Bhubaneswar, Dr K Sivan, Chairman ISRO said the first unmanned flight under the mission would be launched by December next year.

"We are targeting the second one by July 21. By December 2021, the first Indian will be carried by our own rocket into space. ISRO is working on it," said Sivan.

The premier space agency had earlier said the Gaganyaan mission would fly three Indian astronauts into space aboard its most powerful rocket — the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)- Mk-111. The rocket was also used for the launch of Chandrayaan-2 on July 22 and performed its tasks successfully.

However, the mission could not achieve a successful end, as the ground control lost contact with Lander Vikram minutes before making a historic touchdown on the moon. Only US, Russia and China have so far successfully landed on the moon.

While the Lander and Rover of Chandrayaan-2 have been rendered non-functional, the Orbiter continues to revolve around the moon and has begun collecting data as planned. A national committee of academicians and scientists is examining the cause of the failure of Lander Vikram and ascertain as to what went wrong during the final few minutes of the touchdown.