Gaganyaan Mission: UPSC notes, PYQs and practice

Air drop tests: IADT-01 and IADT-02 tested the deceleration system with a simulated crew module.
Timeline: The first uncrewed mission, carrying the Vyommitra half-humanoid, is targeted for Q4 of 2026.
Funding: The Union Cabinet approved ₹20,193 crore for 8 missions in September 2024.
International cooperation: Russia's Roscosmos supplies subsystems and trained the first Gaganyatris at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre. ESA supports network operations, and Australia's space agency supports crew recovery.
Revised scope: In October 2024 the programme grew from three missions (G1, G2, H1) to eight missions.
Mission sequence: Three uncrewed missions (G1, G2, G3) come first, then two crewed missions (H1, H2). Next are a docking mission to a space station (G4), launch of BAS-01 and a docking mission to BAS-01 (G5).
Cumulative expenditure: About ₹6018 crore had been spent by January 2026.
IADT-01: The first Integrated Air Drop Test validated end-to-end performance of the Crew Module's parachute-based deceleration system.
Service Module propulsion test: A 350-second hot test validated integrated performance for an off-nominal mission profile.
Launch vehicle: Gaganyaan uses the human-rated LVM3 (HLVM3).

Don’t confuse with TV-D1 vs IADT: TV-D1 tests the Crew Escape System in flight. The IADTs test the parachute-based deceleration system of the crew module.

Don’t confuse with Gaganyaan vs Bharatiya Antariksh Station: Gaganyaan is the crewed orbital flight programme. BAS is a planned space station, targeted for 2035.

Don’t confuse with TV-D vs IADT: TV-D missions are Test Vehicle flights that test the crew escape system in flight. IADT is an Integrated Air Drop Test of the parachute descent system.

Don’t confuse with G-series vs H-series: G missions are uncrewed flights. H missions carry a crew.

Science and technology: 57 Prelims questions since 2013; most test the concept behind the news, not the news itself. In Mains, 12 news-triggered questions.

Why it matters

It would make India the fourth country to launch humans into space on its own, after the USSR/Russia, the US and China.
It builds human-rated technology that the space station and later crewed missions need.
Makes India a candidate for the small group of nations with independent human spaceflight capability.
Builds technologies and a base for the Bharatiya Antariksh Station.

Problems

Human-rating needs very high reliability, so schedules have repeatedly slipped.
Life-support, crew recovery and escape systems are new to India and still need full flight validation.
Human-rating demands very high safety, and failures in parachutes or escape systems must be fully ruled out.
The scope has grown from three to eight missions, which adds cost and time.

Way forward

Complete TV-D2 and the uncrewed missions before any crewed flight.
Use international partnerships for training and recovery while building domestic capability.
Complete the uncrewed missions with full test objectives met before the crewed flights.
Keep extensive ground testing of failure scenarios, as the Minister described.

Put in your answer

Outlay: ₹20,193 crore for 8 missions was approved in September 2024.

Partnerships: Roscosmos, ESA, CNES and the Australian Space Agency support training, network and recovery work.

Risk mitigation example: In the Main Parachute Airdrop Test, one drogue and one main parachute failure was simulated and system performance was verified.

Expenditure data: Cumulative expenditure was about ₹6018 crore by January 2026.

Lessons incorporated: Test findings led to improvements such as crew module uprighting systems and extra checks during parachute assembly.

UPSC’s own questions that come close to this issue, from our Prelims and Mains banks.

Gaganyaan Mission

Each time it was in the news