India must sustain momentum on Gaganyaan despite complexities: Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla
Bengaluru (PTI): India must continue to pursue its ambitious human spaceflight programme with sustained enthusiasm despite inherent complexities and unknowns, Group Captain and Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla said on Wednesday.
The Ashoka Chakra awardee asserted that the success of Mission Gaganyaan will place the country among a select group of spacefaring nations.
Addressing reporters here, he said, “I think, as a nation, what we are trying to do with Mission Gaganyaan has only been done by three other countries in the world.”
The Gaganyaan mission is India's first human spaceflight programme currently under development. It aims to send a three-member crew on a three-day mission to space and bring them back safely to Earth.
According to ISRO, India aims to launch Gaganyaan in 2027.
Group Captain Shukla is among the four astronauts selected for the mission.
“These are very complex and challenging missions. We are trying to do something so audacious, whatever time it takes, we need to continue to work towards it with the same enthusiasm that I had on day one, and that will be there on the final day when we finally launch humans into space,” he added.
The Indian astronaut acknowledged that delays and hurdles were natural in such cutting-edge ventures while maintaining that they should not be seen as setbacks.
“I do understand the complexities and challenges that are associated with such an ambitious mission. And yes, definitely there are going to be some unknowns along the way before we finally accomplish it,” the Group Captain said.
On India–US cooperation in the space sector, Shukla cited his own Axiom mission as an example of how international collaboration can advance space exploration.
“So my Axiom mission itself was a very good example of how collaboration works in the field of spaceflight or space exploration, and I think it serves as a very good beacon for all the other sectors as well,” he said, adding that joint efforts open doors for future partnerships and serve as models for countries to work together towards common goals.
He noted that comparisons between spacefaring nations are inevitable, but they must account for differing starting points and scales of operation.
Shukla also stressed that India’s identified missions are being actively supported by the government, with growing investment in science and space exploration over time. He expressed hope that such support would continue in the years ahead.
Group Captain Prasanth Nair, an astronaut chosen by the ISRO for the Gaganyaan mission, said, “I can only say, just be patient. Everything is happening exactly the way it has to happen,”
Nair was responding to a query by reporters regarding the delay in the project.
He likened the Gaganyaan to an "inflection point".
“People should look for the inflection point. And that inflection point, if I may dare say, is going to be the Gaganyaan moment when India puts an Indian astronaut on an Indian rocket, in an Indian capsule, from an Indian spaceport here, and brings him back safely,” the Indian astronaut said.
He stressed that India will be only the fourth country in the world if it succeeds.
Nair also noted that the moment is important because “when India does something, it does it differently”.
“We believe in Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas (Collective development with everyone’s participation). We gave vaccines to the rest of the world even when we ourselves needed them,” he said, recalling how India tackled the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This time also, when we go to space and the Gaganyaan moment happens—when an Indian human goes to space—the rest of the world, especially those who cannot send their own astronauts, will say, ‘Thank God India went’, because once we go, we will hold that space for all of us,” he noted.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
North Korea fires about 10 missiles toward sea in show of force, Seoul says
Seoul (AP): North Korea on Saturday fired about 10 ballistic missiles toward the eastern sea, South Korea's military said, staging its own show of force as the rival South conducts a joint military exercise with the United States.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired from an area near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, but didn't immediately say how far they flew. Japan's Defense Ministry said the weapons landed in waters outside the country's exclusive economic zone.
The South's Joint Chiefs said the military has stepped up surveillance and is maintaining readiness against possible additional launches while closely sharing information with the US and Japan.
The launches came as the US and South Korean militaries conduct their annual springtime exercises involving thousands of troops while the Trump administration also wages an escalating war in the Middle East.
The war has raised concerns about potential security lapses in South Korea, as local media — citing security camera footage and other images — have speculated that the US is relocating some missile defense assets stationed in the country to support operations against Iran.
When asked by The Associated Press this week whether US Forces Korea was moving interceptor missiles from its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system in Seongju to the Middle East, President Lee Jae Myung's office said it could not confirm details about US military operations.
The office said the potential relocation of US military assets would not affect the allies' defense posture against nuclear-armed North Korea, while also citing South Korea's conventional military strength. It earlier gave a similar response to reports about the possible relocation of Patriot missile defense systems from South Korea.
North Korea has long described the allies' drills as invasion rehearsals and often uses them as a pretext to dial up its own military demonstrations or weapons testing.
The North in previous years has conducted numerous salvo launches of missiles or artillery while describing them as simulations of nuclear attacks against targets in South Korea.
The launches came days after the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday criticized Washington and Seoul for proceeding with their drills at a perilous moment for global security, and warned that any challenge to the North's safety would bring “terrible consequences.”
Without directly referring to the Iran war, Kim Yo Jong said the US-South Korea drills undermine regional stability at a time when the global security structure is “collapsing rapidly and wars break out in different parts of the world due to the reckless acts of outrageous international rogues.”
North Korea's Foreign Ministry has released separate statements denouncing the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran and expressing support for Tehran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.
The 11-day Freedom Shield exercise, which runs through March 19, is one of two annual command post exercises conducted by the militaries of the United States and South Korea. The largely computer-simulated drills are designed to test the allies' joint operational capabilities, while incorporating evolving war scenarios and security challenges. Freedom Shield will be accompanied by a field training program called Warrior Shield.
North Korea has repeatedly rejected Washington and Seoul's calls to resume diplomacy aimed at winding down its nuclear program. Talks derailed in 2019 following the collapse of Kim Jong Un's second summit with US President Donald Trump during his first term.
Kim has made Russia the priority of his foreign policy, sending thousands of troops and large amounts of military equipment to support Moscow's war in Ukraine, possibly in exchange for aid and military technology.
