India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in August 2018 that his country would send the first national crew into orbit by 2022 when the country celebrates the 75th anniversary of its independence

MOSCOW: Astronauts from India departed for home after undergoing training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Russia, ROSCOSMOS Executive Director for Piloted Space Programs Sergei Krikalyov told a press conference on Friday.

"The Indian cosmonauts completed training in Russia quite recently and we saw them off when they were leaving home after wrapping up the training course," the ROSCOSMOS official said.

It was earlier reported that the astronauts from India had successfully completed the study of the systems of a manned Soyuz MS spacecraft at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre and would wrap up their training until late March.

The first Indian manned mission is called Gaganyaan (from the Sanskrit word ‘Gagana’ - the sky), i.e. the sky vehicle. Before that, two spacecraft are expected to be launched in their uncrewed version. A group of four candidates for astronauts from India underwent training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre from February 2020.