India will launch its first indigenous space station by 2030, just a few years after the Gaganyaan mission. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has already started preparations for “Ganganyaan”, which includes two unmanned flights, followed by one with real astronauts. The Union Minister announced details of the preparations in his address to the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, December 9th.

India is preparing for its first space station

ISRO boss K. Sivan spoke for the first time in 2019 about the space station built in India, where he revealed details. Sivan had announced that the system would weigh up to 20 tons. In addition, it will be fixed in an orbit 400 kilometers above the Earth and astronauts could stay for 15-20 days. According to Sivan, the space station will be launched 5-7 years after the Gaganyaan mission.

Min Singh had previously announced in his Rajya Sabha address that the preparations for the mission in question had hardly been made due to the pandemic, but assured that the preparations were now “in full swing”.

India’s “Ganganyaan” mission

India’s schedule in the space sector will be pretty tight from next year as ISRO will launch the first unmanned mission under ‘Gaganyaan’ in the second half of 2022. The second unmanned flight will include a space robot called “Vyommitra”, which is under development by ISRO and will be launched into space by the end of 2022. However, it will be 2023 which will be the real test, as India will launch the first astronaut with its own technology, making it the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to achieve this feat.

In addition to these space projects, ISRO is also preparing Chandrayaan 3 for the moon, the Aditya-L1 mission to explore the sun and a mission to Venus before the space station is launched.