India to develop spacecraft which can carry 3 astronauts

India plans to develop a spacecraft that can carry up to three astronauts in the seven-day manned mission to space. "Concept is getting evolved" Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair said on 11th February while addressing an international seminar here

ISRO is looking at developing a capsule (spacecraft) with service module which can lodge three astronauts and take it to lower earth orbit using the indigenous GSLV (Geo-Synchronous Launch Vehicle) in the year 2015. The Mission duration is seven days.

There would also be emergency mission abort and crew rescue provisions in case of necessity. Crew module would be designed for re-entry and service module for mission management.

He said the GSLV-Mk III, which can launch four tonne class satellites, would bring down the launch cost by half. The maiden flight of GSLV-Mk III is slated for next year.

About Chandrayaan-1 moon mission, Nair said instruments on board have thrown up voluminous data which would take a few years for scientists to analyze and come out with exact results. Entire mapping of the lunar surface is expected to be carried out in a year's time. There is no trace of water on moon so far.