India was due to send its own spacecraft, crewed with its own astronauts, into orbit in 2022.

But COVID-19 and a series of technical setbacks have consistently delayed the Gaganyaan mission's progress.

ISRO — the Indian Space Research Organization — has now certified its LMV3 launch rocket for human travel and is aiming to complete three uncrewed launches of the Gaganyaan spacecraft in 2026. 

If things go to plan, three astronauts (or "Gaganyatris") selected from air force pilots Prasanth Balakrishnan, Ajit Krishnan, Angad Pratap and Shubhanshui Shukla, will be strapped in for the maiden voyage.

The earliest that launch could take place is 2027. 

Putting its Gaganyatris into orbit would put India in league with the US, the Soviet Union, Russia and China as the only nations to have sent their own people into space on a sovereign spacecraft.

Gurbir Singh, a UK-based space writer, who has researched ISRO's evolution from a sixties-era startup to a modern spacefaring agency, told DW the Gaganyaan program is an opportunity for India to showcase its credentials as a new space power.

"The goal is really less scientific, more of a geopolitical one," Singh said. "It's just to make sure that India has a presence with the big players, and all of those big players have a human spaceflight program."

India's science missions are returning results

India already matches other nations in space exploration and research.

It became the fourth nation — after the US, Soviet Union and China — to safely land on the moon, when its Chandrayaan-3 mission touched down on the lunar surface in 2023.

In doing so, it also became the first nation to send a spacecraft to the moon's South Pole, which is a difficult place to land.

In 2014, it successfully sent its Mars Orbiter spacecraft to the Red Planet.

Singh said the real value of ISRO probably lies in its science programs, rather than its ambition of sending Indians into space.

"India shouldn't be going into space with humans because, and only because, it doesn't provide the same scientific results and the bang for your buck that normal science missions do," said Singh. "The only reason India is doing this is because, despite the fact it doesn't provide the same economic benefit, it does provide the geopolitical benefits."

Among ISRO's slated science and exploration initiatives are new missions to send sample collectors back to the moon and Mars. A probe to study Venus's atmosphere has also been commissioned.

Partnerships and pride on the line

Singh sees India cementing itself as a major space player — and power — in the coming years.

Matching its neighbor and regional rival China is also important to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi has also given ISRO the task of building an orbital space station.He wants the first module to be deployed in 2028. And he also wants Gaganyatri boots walking on the moon by 2040.

India's role as a middle-power can be seen in its collaborations with other space faring nations —  partners, who are also often in competition with each other.

On the one hand, India works with the US on joint projects, such as a recently launched Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite, hailed by both Modi and US President Donald Trump. 

Likewise with the European Space Agency (ESA), India collaborates on low Earth orbit missions and astronaut training.

On the other hand, India is to receive a semi-cryogenic rocket engine from Russia. This was reportedly agreed during a state visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December 2025.

Singh said the rocket would help with India's launch capability, which is "limited."

"Also, I think India will get some support from Russia to do with its space station, which is also in the cards for the next decade," said Singh.

Collaborating with geopolitical rivals seems, for now, to be lucrative ground for India as it pursues its own space ambitions.

"India has a unique history, and a short history as an independent nation," said Singh, "It's come a really long way in that short time, and it's developed its space infrastructure by collaborative projects throughout that 60-year history."

Edited by: Zulfikar Abbany