The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief S Somnath said that they will launch the ambitious manned mission from India, Gaganyaan when they are absolutely confident about its success. "We have to reach that stage," Somnath said.

"We know we have rockets that are flying safely. There are many things that could go wrong in space and we will need to save the crew. The first goal is to perfect the Crew Escape System and we are working on it," Somnath said.

He added that ISRO needs to do unmanned robotic missions to prove the end-to-end capability of the design, communication, networks, and systems, and bring it back safely. All of it has to be repeated twice. All of this is a success-based idea and if anything goes wrong it will need corrections and more test launches.

"I am not setting a date for the launch of the final human mission. Our focus is to do what is needed to reach that point. It is my responsibility to showcase to the nation that we are reaching that state, and it's important for us to do that carefully, since human lives are involved in sustained manned missions," Somnath said.

The ISRO boss added that we could either go to orbit and succeed, but if we fail, we need to save the crew.

ISRO has selected four pilots from the Indian Air Force for the country's first manned mission to space. Somnath said that the four pilots have joined as astronaut trainees and they are going through coursework and simulations.

"We are designing and developing the module in which they will sit," Somnath said, adding they have sought help from other space fairing nations as well who have sent astronauts into space.

The ISRO chief said that they are working with India's lone astronaut, Rakesh Sharma in training the astronaut candidates.

He also discussed India's mission to the Moon Chandrayaan-3 and the solar probe Aditya L-1.