A crew of three, three days in orbit and a human rated launcher: the shape of Gaganyaan

Background

With Indian launch vehicles flying regularly again, the human spaceflight programme behind them bears a closer look. Gaganyaan is meant to show that India can send people to orbit and bring them home safely. The planned flight carries a crew of three and lasts three days. The spacecraft is to circle the Earth in low Earth orbit at a height of about 400 km, and the crew module is to come down in Indian sea waters. The rocket for it is the Human Rated LVM3, a reworked version of the heavy lift LVM3, and it carries a Crew Escape System of fast burning solid motors that can pull the crew module clear if something goes wrong on the pad or during the climb. The spacecraft itself is an Orbital Module made of a Crew Module, which is the habitable part with life support and a heat shield, and a Service Module holding propulsion, power and thermal systems. Demonstration flights before it include the Integrated Air Drop Test, the Pad Abort Test and Test Vehicle flights.