From simulator sessions to yoga, astronauts train hard for Gaganyaan

Sessions on simulators, micro gravity familiarisation and survival in addition to flying practice and Yoga -- the training schedule of India's four astronaut-designates for the Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission, planned for launch in 2025, is packed indeed.

The Indian Space Research Organisation's crew training facility in Bengaluru is the hub of such activities for the IAF pilots -- Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla.

"They are being trained on aero-medical, recovery and survival", an official of the space agency said on Wednesday.

"That is in addition to classroom training, physical fitness training, simulator training and flight suit training".

Training modules also cover academic courses, Gaganyaan flight systems, nicro-gravity familiarisation through parabolic flights, recovery training, mastering of flight procedures and training on crew training simulators, according to ISRO sources.

"These training sessions include periodical flying practice and Yoga".

The sources said Gaganyaan mission-specific training had commenced in India after the successful completion of generic space flight training of the four Indian astronaut-designates at Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre, Russia.

“The Mission specific training includes theoretical courses in engineering disciplines and training on Gaganyaan flight systems and practical training on simulators and flight procedures", sources said.

"The first semester of Crew training which has successfully been completed consisted of 39 crew training activities. These crew members attended 218 lectures by 40 faculties at ISRO and the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru", the official said. There were 75 physical training sessions, flying practices, medical evaluations and course evaluations.

“Independent Training Simulator, Virtual Reality Training Simulator, Dynamic training Simulator, and Static Mock-up Simulator to prepare the crew for handling all the nominal and off-nominal scenarios of mission situations are among the Crew Training Simulators,” the official said.