ISRO chairman V Narayanan says the first uncrewed flight of India's human spaceflight programme is on track for launch this calendar year, with over 8,000 ground tests already completed.

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• ISRO chairman V Narayanan said vigorous, systematic work is underway for the first uncrewed Gaganyaan mission, targeted for launch during this calendar year.
• The confirmation came after the successful launch of the GSLV-F17/EOS-05 Earth observation satellite, ISRO's first mission success of this financial year.
• Narayanan said more than 8,000 ground tests related to the Gaganyaan programme have been completed, with human safety treated as the top priority throughout.
• Gaganyaan aims to send three Indian astronauts to a 400-km orbit for a three-day mission and return them safely to Earth.
• ISRO has planned three uncrewed missions before any crewed flight, since human lives are involved in the programme.
• The first uncrewed mission will carry Vyommitra, a female half-humanoid robot that can monitor module parameters, issue alerts and carry out life-support operations.
• If the first uncrewed flight succeeds, two more uncrewed missions will follow before the crewed mission is attempted.
• ISRO is targeting the first crewed Gaganyaan flight, carrying three Indian astronauts, for 2027 once all three uncrewed missions are completed successfully.
• Four Indian Air Force pilots selected as astronaut-designates have completed training in Russia and are undergoing further mission-specific training in India.
• Narayanan also announced six more launches planned for this financial year, including the NVS-03 navigation satellite, and dismissed speculation that EOS-05 is a spy satellite.
• The Gaganyaan programme's progress will be closely watched as India works toward becoming only the fourth nation to independently launch humans into space.