Modi promises India's first manned space mission by 2022

An Indian astronaut, be it a man or a woman, will go on a space odyssey by 2022 on board ‘Gaganyaan’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his Independence Day address from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

He said when India celebrates 75th year of Independence in 2022, “and if possible even before, an Indian son or daughter” will undertake a manned space mission on board ‘Gaganyaan’ “carrying the national flag”.

Chandrayaan-1 was India’s first lunar probe. It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation in October 2008 and operated until August 2009.

Mangalyaan is another Indian space project.

The Mars Orbiter Mission, also called Mangalyaan, is a space probe orbiting Mars since September 24, 2014.