Science and Technology › Space

Human spaceflight and space stations

Gaganyaan and its test flights, the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, astronauts on foreign missions, and what it takes to keep a crew alive in orbit and bring it home. Prelims has asked about Gaganyaan and other microgravity missions.

Foundation note: Gaganyaan and the Bharatiya Antariksh Station

UPSC has asked

Prelims 2025: Axiom-4, SpaDeX and Gaganyaan as microgravity missions

Showing 2 of 3 articles, those that changed from 1 to 30 June 2026.Show all

Gaganyaan

Prelims and Mains

Gaganyaan is the first human spaceflight programme of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and it will carry a crew module to low Earth orbit and bring it back. The programme is being proved in stages, and each test clears one of the things that can kill a crew.

The first uncrewed flight, carrying the half humanoid Vyommitra, is targeted for the last quarter of 2026, with two more uncrewed flights and the first crewed flight by 2027.
The baseline design review of BAS-01, the first of five modules of the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, is complete.
The government has approved indigenous development of the flight suit, the view port, the crew seat and the docking system, now bought abroad.

Gaganyaan targets

2022
The original target
February 2026
Crewed flight said to be by the end of 2027
June 2026
First uncrewed flight in the third quarter of 2027, crewed flight in 2028

Each restatement has pushed the crewed flight about a year further out.Source: The Indian Express, 27 June 2026

What changed

27 Jun 2026
- The ISRO chairman indicated that the first uncrewed test flight could slip to the third quarter of 2027, pushing the crewed flight to 2028.
- He cited two successive Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) failures and NavIC down to three satellites.
- Three uncrewed missions are planned and a continuation programme has been approved.
The Indian Express, 27 Jun 2026: Gaganyaan mission: Isro chairman hints first uncrewed test flight may slip to 2027 (opens in a new tab) · The Indian Express, 27 Jun 2026: ISRO's Gaganyaan delay, Axiom-4 and the SpaceX rocket leak (opens in a new tab)

Deorbiting the International Space Station

Prelims and Mains

The International Space Station, occupied since 2000, is to retire around 2030.

A SpaceX built US Deorbit Vehicle will guide a controlled re entry into Point Nemo in the South Pacific, the largest controlled re entry ever attempted.
Treaties require compensation when space debris damages property or territory on land; no equivalent covers the open ocean.

What changed

24 Jun 2026BriefA US Government Accountability Office report noted that parts of the station and the deorbit vehicle will survive re entry, and the Ocean Foundation asked for a full environmental assessment. The Indian Express, 24 Jun 2026: Nasa's plan to sink the ISS sparks concerns over ocean health and legal accountability (opens in a new tab)