Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief V Narayanan has announced that 2025 will be marked as the “Gaganyaan Year,” highlighting it as a critical period in India’s journey toward its first human spaceflight. While speaking at an event in Kolkata, Narayanan revealed that ISRO has already conducted more than 7,200 tests for the Gaganyaan mission, with approximately 3,000 additional tests underway.
The Gaganyaan Programme, greenlit in December 2018, aims to send Indian astronauts to Low Earth Orbit and establish capabilities for long-term human space missions. According to Narayanan, “We have scheduled three uncrewed missions before sending humans into space, and the first one is set to launch this year.”
He also declared the successful completion of the SpaDeX mission—a technology demonstration using two small spacecraft launched via the PSLV to experiment with in-orbit docking capabilities. Notably, ISRO achieved the mission using only half the allocated fuel—five kilos instead of ten—leaving room for further experiments in the near future.
Looking ahead, Narayanan detailed a packed launch calendar, including the deployment of a NASA-ISRO synthetic aperture radar satellite using an Indian launch vehicle. Other missions on the horizon involve a new communication satellite for commercial purposes and other commercial space missions.
The year’s highlight will be the launch of the first uncrewed Gaganyaan flight, carrying a humanoid robot named Vyommitra, scheduled for December 2025. ISRO plans to conduct two more uncrewed missions ahead of its first crewed spaceflight, which is anticipated to take place in the first quarter of 2027.
“With nearly monthly launches lined up, this is an extremely busy and important year for ISRO,” Narayanan concluded.
