New Delhi, August 15: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his address to the nation from the ramparts of Red Fort today, announced the launch an Indian space mission ‘Gaganyaan’ in 2022, to mark the 75th Year of Independence.  PM Modi said, “An Indian astronaut, be it a man or a woman, will go on a space odyssey by 2022 onboard Gaganyaan.” He further added that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had done considerable research and we are proud of our scientists. If successful, India would be the fourth nation to achieve the feat after the US, Russia and China.

The Prime Minister also hailed Indian scientists for launching 100 satellites and for successfully completing Mars Mission. India is also expected to launch its second Mars mission 'Chandrayaan-II'. in January 2019. According to reports, ISRO is also planning to launch 50 satellites in the next three years. The agency is expected to launch 22 satellites in 2019.

This year  ISRO will launch commercial satellites NOVASAT and S1-4 from the United Kingdom (UK) in September. In October, ISRO may launch GSAT29 for the Digital India programme and hyper spectrum imaging satellites along with 30 commercial satellites. In November India’s space agency would also launch GSAT-7A, while in December there would be two missions, GSLV-F11 launching AMISAT and GSAT-31. According to reports, ISRO would have two missions of launching Chandrayan-2 by GSLV Mark 3 and the PSLV P45 launching RA-SAT 2B next year.

India launched its first lunar mission ‘Chandrayaan –I’ in October 2008 and operated until August 2009. Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma was the first Indian to travel to space. Sharma was a part of the Soviet Union’s Soyuz T-11 expedition which was launched on April 2, 1984, as part of the Intercosmos programme.  Indian-born Kalpana Chawla and Indian-origin Sunita Williams had also gone on space missions. Chawla was one of the seven crew members who died in the space shuttle Columbia during its re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere in 2003.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 15, 2018 06:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).