A space station is a spacecraft which remains in orbit and hosts humans for extended periods of time. It therefore is an artificial satellite featuring habitation facilities. The purpose of maintaining a space station varies depending on the program. Most often space stations have been research stations, but they have also served military or commercial uses, such as hosting space tourists.
Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, AC is an Indian astronaut and a former Indian Air Force officer. He flew aboard Soyuz T-11 on 3 April 1984 as part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme. He is the only Indian citizen to travel in space, although there have been other astronauts of Indian origin who travelled to space, who were not Indian citizens. Another Air Force pilot, Ravish Malhotra, was placed on standby.
The Indian Space Research Organisation is India's national space agency. It serves as the principal research and development arm of the Department of Space (DoS), overseen by the Prime Minister of India, with the Chairman of ISRO also serving as the chief executive of the DoS. It is primarily responsible for space-based operations, space exploration, international space cooperation and the development of related technologies. The agency maintains a constellation of imaging, communication and remote sensing satellites. It operates the GAGAN and IRNSS satellite navigation systems. It has sent three missions to the Moon and one mission to Mars.
Ravish Malhotra is a retired air commodore of the Indian Air Force. He was an Air Force test pilot stationed at the test centre in Bangalore. He was also the Air Officer Commanding of Hindon Air Force Station near Delhi.
The Launch Vehicle Mark-3 or LVM3 is a three-stage medium-lift launch vehicle developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Primarily designed to launch communication satellites into geostationary orbit, it is also due to launch crewed missions under the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. LVM3 has a higher payload capacity than its predecessor, GSLV.
The Indian Human Spaceflight program is an ongoing programme by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to develop the technology needed to launch crewed orbital spacecraft into low Earth orbit. Three uncrewed flights, named Gaganyaan-1, Gaganyaan-2 and Gaganyaan-3 are scheduled to launch in 2024, followed by crewed flight in 2024 on an HLVM3 rocket.
Gaganyaan is an Indian crewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the formative spacecraft of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. The spacecraft is being designed to carry three people, and a planned upgraded version will be equipped with rendezvous and docking capabilities. In its maiden crewed mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s largely autonomous 5.3-metric ton capsule will orbit the Earth at 400 km altitude for up to seven days with a two- or three-person crew on board. The first crewed mission was originally planned to be launched on ISRO's HLVM3 rocket in December 2021. As of November 2024, it is expected to be launched no earlier than 2026.
Dr.V. R. Lalithambika is an Indian engineer and scientist who has been working with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). She is a specialist in Advanced Launcher Technologies and was leading the Gaganyaan mission to send Indian astronauts to space by 2022.
The Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) is a body under the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to coordinate the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. The agency will be responsible for implementation of the Gaganyaan project. The first crewed flight is planned for 2024 on a home-grown LVM3 rocket.
SPADEX or Space Docking Experiment is a twin satellite mission being developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to mature technologies related to orbital rendezvous, docking, formation flying, with scope of applications in human spaceflight, in-space satellite servicing and other proximity operations.
Vyommitra is a female humanoid robot designed for space travel. She was designed at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala and developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to function aboard the spacecraft Gaganyaan, a crewed orbital spacecraft. Vyommitra was first unveiled on 22 January 2020 at the Human Spaceflight and Exploration Symposium in Bengaluru.
Sirisha Bandla is an Indian-American aeronautical engineer and commercial astronaut. She is the Vice President of Government Affairs and Research Operations for Virgin Galactic. She flew on the Virgin Galactic Unity 22 mission which made her the second India-born woman to go to space and the fourth person of Indian descent ever to go past the line of space after Rakesh Sharma, Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams.
Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1) was a high altitude abort test performed as part of the Gaganyaan program, initially set to be held on 21 October 2023 at around 02:30 UTC. Liftoff was delayed to 03:15 UTC due to weather issues, and five seconds before launch it was put on hold by the on-board computer due to an engine anomaly, as reported in ISRO's mission livestream. The launch occurred at 04:30 UTC, and the crew module successfully separated from the launch vehicle. The crew module was successfully recovered by the Indian Navy. India is the fourth country, after Russia, the United States, and China, to successfully test this technology.
Gaganyaan-1 will be the first uncrewed test flight of the Gaganyaan programme, with launch tentatively planned for March 1, 2025.
The Bharatiya Antariksha Station, is a planned modular space station to be constructed by India and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The space station would weigh 52 tonnes and maintain an orbit of approximately 400 kilometres above the Earth, where astronauts could stay for 3-6 months. Originally planned to be completed by 2030, it was later postponed to 2035 due to delays caused by technical issues related with the Gaganyaan crewed spaceflight mission and the COVID-19 pandemic in India. As of December 2023, the first module is expected to be launched in 2028 on an LVM3 launch vehicle, with the remaining modules to be launched by 2035 on the Next Generation Launch Vehicle (Soorya).
Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla is an Indian Air Force test pilot and one of the four astronaut candidates who will fly to space as part of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme.
Gaganyaan-4 will be the first crewed test flight of the Gaganyaan programme, with launch planned for 2026.
Group CaptainPrasanth Balakrishnan Nair is a qualified flight instructor and a test pilot in the Indian Air Force. Nair is one of the four designated astronauts trained by ISRO to fly aboard the Gaganyaan crewed flight.
Ladakh Human Analogue Mission (LHAM) is a human analog mission by ISRO's Human Space Flight Centre, AAKA Space Studio, University of Ladakh and IIT Bombay in collaboration with the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh. The mission began on 1 November 2024. Mission aims to make suitable interplanetary conditions for astronaut training. This is India's first human analogue mission.
Soyuz T-11/10 (3 April 1984)
Blue Origin NS-25 (May 19, 2024) [4] 
