The Indian Space Research Organisation is likely to opt for Russian-made spacesuits instead of indigenously crafted Intra Vehicular Activity (IVA) suits for the astronauts of its ambitious Gaganyaan mission, according to a Hindustan Times report.

The Indian-made IVA suits are developed by the Vikram Sarabhai Space. These suits will be ready for use and testing by the space agency soon. Earlier, it was planned that astronauts would wear these IVA suits during the Gaganyaan mission. However, the preparations for the mission indicate that Indian astronauts will wear Russian spacesuits.

"Considering the programmatic requirements and to doubly ensure the crew safety, it is planned to induct Russian space suits for the (Gaganyaan) mission," read an official document seen by the Hindustan Times' Soumya Pillai.

Earlier this month, S Somanath called the year 2024 “the year for Gaganyaan," as ISRO is scheduled to make key tests and perform demonstrations related to the mission over the coming months.

ISRO Gaganyaan Mission

ISRO aims to demonstrate its capability to perform India's first human spaceflight mission program, the Gaganyaan mission. Under the space program, ISRO will launch a crew of three members to an orbit of 400km for a three-day mission and bring them back safely.

Ahead of the actual manned mission, the space agency will perform several tests and programs to ensure 100% success of the program.

Before the launch of Gaganyaan spaceflight, ISRO's focus will be on the development of many critical technologies including a human-rated launch vehicle for carrying the crew safely to space, a Life Support System to provide an earth-like environment to the crew in space, a crew emergency escape provision and evolving crew management aspects for training, recovery and rehabilitation of crew.

The precursor missions that will be carried out before the Gaganyaan mission include the Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT), Pad Abort Test (PAT), and Test Vehicle (TV) flights. In addition to this, the Indian space agency will also test the safety and reliability of all systems in unmanned missions preceding manned missions.