THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: One of the four astronauts participating in India’s proudest project, the Gaganyaan mission, is a Malayali. A Malayali is among the four who are continuing their training for space travel ahead of the mission. The names, which have been kept secret until now, will be announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will arrive in Kerala on Tuesday in Thiruvananthapuram. It is reported that he is an officer with the rank of squadron leader in the Air Force.

Gaganyaan mission aims to return three astronauts to a 400 km orbit for three days. ISRO aims to implement the project in 2025. The mission will be preceded by the Gaganyaan test mission GX to carry the robotic Vyomamitra into space in June 2024, followed by the G1 and G2 test launches. Gaganyaan mission will be done after.

The Prime Minister, who will arrive in Thiruvananthapuram tomorrow morning, will attend the program at VSSC. After that address the BJP rally to be held at the Central Stadium at 11.30 am. The rally will be held at the Central Stadium in connection with the conclusion of the Kerala Padayatra led by BJP State President K.Surendran.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the upgraded Trisonic Wind Tunnel for the Gaganyaan project. The wind tunnel was established at VSSC in 2022. It was further strengthened to test the GSLV, which flew with the Gaganyaan probe. It will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister.

It is a system to evaluate various technical qualities of launch rockets flying with space probes such as speed, stress tolerance and load carrying capacity. Also, the re-entry of probes returning to Earth like Gaganyaan, the accuracy of aerodynamic design, etc. can be evaluated through this. The wind tunnel is a tunnel with a length of more than 160 meters. The Prime Minister will also attend a review meeting at VSSC regarding the progress of the Gaganyaan project. The Prime Minister will inaugurate the semi-cryogenic engine testing system built at Mahendragiri and the third rocket integration center built at Sriharikota online at VSSC. All these are upgraded for the Gaganyaan project.