ISRO gears up for Gaganyaan, India's first manned mission to space: 10 things to know

NEW DELHI : Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief explained about Gaganyaan mission and its importance for India. While addressing the 8th convocation of IIT Bhubaneswar, K Sivan said the mission will give a thrust to the country's science and technology capabilities. "There are some questions. In what way Gaganyaan is going to be useful? Gaganyaan is extremely important for India as it will boost the science and technology capability of the country," he said. "By December 2020, we are going to have the first unmanned mission of human spacecraft," added Sivan. He asserted that though ISRO's plan to soft land Chandrayaan-2's 'Vikram' module on the lunar surface did not go as per script, it will have no bearing with the Gaganyaan mission.

The ISRO chief had earlier said that Gaganyaan mission is the space agency's next priority, while briefing about their moon mission Chandrayaan-2.