PM Modi bestowed ‘astronaut wings’ to the 4 selected astronauts and revealed their names.
Our Bureau
Thiruvananthapuram
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced just now the names of the four astronauts who are undergoing training for the country’s maiden human space flight mission, Gaganyaan.
The four astronauts are Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, Angad Prathap, Ajit Krishnan, and Shubhanshu Shukla, PM Modi said at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) at Thumba located near Thiruvananthapuram, the Kerala state capital.
He bestowed ‘astronaut wings’ to the four. “I am happy that today I got the opportunity to meet these astronauts and present them in front of the country. I want to congratulate them on behalf of the entire country…You are the pride of today’s India,” PM Modi said during his address. He added, “India’s success in the space sector is sowing the seeds of scientific temperament in the country’s young generation.”
The Gaganyaan mission is India’s first manned space mission, aiming for a launch between 2024-2025. The project envisages launching a crew of 3 humans into an orbit of 400 km for a 3-day mission and bringing them back safely to Earth by landing in Indian sea waters.
Prasanth, hailing from Nenmara, joined the Air Force in 1999 after completing engineering at NSS College, Palakkad. He received the sword of honor given to the best-performing cadet during overall training in 1998. He is a Sukhoi fighter pilot Group Captain and has been undergoing training for India’s dream mission for the past few years. He was also the first rank holder at the United States Air Force Air Command and staff college. Group Captain Ajit Krishnan is among the four people picked to be a part of the mission. Group Captain Angad Prathap has trained along with the other three members of the group in Russia for 13 months, as per ISRO. Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla too has been trained in Moscow’s Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in various aspects of space movement. As per reports, finally 3 out of the 4 crew members would be selected to go on the space mission.
