When Rakesh Sharma flew to space, along with two Russian cosmonauts onboard a Soyuz spacecraft in 1984, it seemed unlikely that another Indian would be following anytime soon. India’s space programme was still in relative infancy, and the whole mission of sending an Indian to space then seemed more an exercise in strengthening India-Soviet Union relations than pushing India’s capabilities in space exploration.

Even Sharma’s experiments and activities in space were modest in scope. One involved checking out yoga’s efficacy in countering the impact of space travel. (Sharma would perform yoga exercises daily in space.) And another was about taking detailed photographs of Indian areas as aids in down-to-earth pursuits like forestry, land-use mapping and general map-making. The New York Times, which covered the launch, reported, “India is not likely to have its own manned space program for a long time, if ever, and Mr Sharma’s flight may well be the last by an Indian for a long time.”

In comparison, when Shubhanshu Shukla took off to space today, forty one years after Sharma, the question was not if, but when, the next set of Indian astronauts would be following him. As is quite evident by now, Shukla’s flight is going to be the start of a new era in India’s space programme. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has already carried out a number of important missions that have placed the country in a very small group of countries with cutting-edge space capabilities. Now, it hopes to take the next leap by sending humans to space. If current estimates hold, ISRO will send its first crewed mission to space for a three day trip by 2027.

“There is nothing like having a hands-on experience,” says Dr R Umamaheswaran, Distinguished Scientist, former Scientific Secretary and former Director of the Human Space Flight Centre at ISRO. “No matter how much training you have undergone, and all sorts of simulations. There is no equivalent to actually travelling to space, to experience the liftoff to orbit.”

Excerpt from "Gaganyaan: India’s Next Space Odyssey" by Lhendup G Bhutia, published in OPEN Magazine on 26 June 2025.Read full article here: https://openthemagazine.com/feature/gaganyaan-indias-next-space-odyssey/

Katy Perry is back from space!