ISRO chief S Somanath on Sunday said that the country's premier space agency prefers woman fighter test pilots or female scientists for its ambitious Gaganyaan mission and it is possible to send them in the future. He said the space agency would send a female humanoid - a robot that resembles a human - in its unmanned Gaganyaan spacecraft next year, according to news agency PTI.
India's 'Gaganyaan' mission aims to send humans into space on a Low Earth Orbit of 400 km for three days and bring them safely back to Earth. "No doubt about it...but we have to find out such possible (women) candidates in the future," Somanath told the news agency, adding that the manned mission is expected by 2025 and that it will be a short-duration mission.
The ISRO chief said that right now, the initial candidates are to be from Air Force fighter test pilots. "They are a bit different category. Right now, we are not having women fighter test pilots. So, once they come, that is one route," he said, adding that the second option was when there would be more scientific activity.
"Then, scientists will come as astronauts. So, at that time, I believe that more possibilities for women are there. Currently, possibilities are lesser because there are no women fighter test pilots," he explained. ISRO's target is to put a fully operational space station by 2035.
The space agency on Saturday successfully launched the test vehicle with payloads related to the Gaganyaan programme. The vehicle was tested after a few hiccups initially when the launch was put on hold.
After initial trouble, Somanth said there was a very smooth airlift and automatic launch sequence leading up to the command to lift off, "but the engine ignition has not happened in the nominal course due to anomaly".
"And we have to find out what went wrong with that. The vehicle is safe, the entire vehicle is very safe. We will have to reach the vehicle and then look at what has happened now," he said, adding ISRO will come back soon after analysing what triggered the automatic launch sequence holding the vehicle.
"So what has happened is that the ground support computer doing this function has withheld the launch in view of the anomaly observed. We will come back after understanding the anomaly, correct it, and schedule the launch very soon," Somanath said.
On Saturday, scientists simulated an abort situation for the Crew Escape System to carry the Crew Module of the test vehicle out as they made a splash into the Bay of Bengal with planned precision.
(With inputs from PTI)