BENGALURU: Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to travel to space, on Thursday said the human interface in the ‘Gaganyaan’ project makes it a challenging one and expressed confidence about ISRO launching it by 2022.
“We are capable of anything. Its just that we never had the opportunity or the support to actually achieve what we are potentially capable of,” Sharma said on the sidelines of a function here.
A former IAF pilot, Sharma was a part of the Soviet Union’s Soyuz T-11 expedition, launched on April 2, 1984, as part of the Intercosmos programme.
Speaking about the challenges, Sharma said, “When there is human in the loop, then there are a lot of changes which happen.”
He insisted that the verification, validation and related examinations should be lot more stricter because the person going for the project should be brought back.
Sharma, who is part of the National Advisory Council Gaganyaan, said ISRO was working keeping in view the challenges before it.
“Selection is on, capsule has already been recovered, pad abort has taken place, so a lot of ground has already been
covered. I am very confident that the successful mission is waiting to happen on time,” Sharma said. (AGENCIES)
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