Gaganyaan's first unmanned launch slated for December 2021: FM Sitharaman

India would take its first step towards sending a man to space in December when the first unmanned human module would be launched to critically examine the re-entry parameters.

“The first unmanned launch is slated for December 2021,” Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said here on Monday while presenting the Union Budget 2021-22.

The Rs 10,000 crore Gaganyaan mission aims to send a three-member crew to space for a period of five to seven days by 2022 when India completes 75 years of independence.

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As per the original plan, the first unmanned mission was planned in December 2020 followed by the second unmanned mission in June 2021. But the schedule was derailed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown that ensued.

As part of the Gaganyaan mission activities, four Indian astronauts were being trained on the generic aspects of space flights in Russia, she said.

In another upcoming mission, the New Space India Limited, a new public sector undertaking under the Department of Space will execute the PSLV-CS51 launch, carrying the Amazonia Satellite from Brazil, along with a few smaller Indian satellites. This is the first earth observation satellite entirely developed by Brazil.

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An allocation of Rs 700 crore has been made for the NSPL.

Compared to last year's revised estimate, the Department of Space's budget has been increased by more than Rs 4400 crore, of which nearly Rs 3709 crore would be spent on new space technologies including the GSLV Mark-III that would carry the full load unmanned module to a low earth orbit. However, a comparison with the last budgetary estimate showed that the allocation remained exactly the same.

ISRO had earlier indicated that there would be a delay in several missions as the space body's work has been hit by disruptions due to the coronavirus pandemic. Staff members from ISRO's different centres were infected with Covid-19 during the pandemic and only essential and process-related work was going on. The related industry was also affected due to the coronavirus lockdown.

Among the major projects that have been affected are Chandrayaan-3 and Gaganyaan.