BENGALURU: India’s astronaut corps is not a one-off experiment but a permanent national capability, Indian astronaut Group Captain Prashanth Nair (Papa) said Wednesday, while Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla (Shux) said that a civilian flying to space will happen as the Gaganyaan program matures.Speaking at the US-India Space Business Forum event in Bengaluru, organized by the US Consulate General, Chennai and the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, the two astronauts described how all four members of the Indian crew are now embedded with Isro engineers to shape spacecraft design, safety procedures and mission protocols. Their training in Russia on the Soyuz system and Shux and Papa’s training in the US with Nasa, SpaceX and Axiom, they said, has given India rare first-hand insight into global best practices.“The astronaut core is here to stay. There’s going to be an Indian human space program forever, from the Gaganyaan mission to the Bharatiya Antriksh Station (BAS) and to landing on the Moon,” Nair said. He added that the present crew carries a long responsibility: “When we do something right now, the four of us as test pilots have a duty to the entire country 20 or 30 years down the line.”Shukla said the astronauts now spend most days in technical briefings with designers. “As test pilots, our role is to work with designers to evolve a system which can ultimately be used by the fleet. That is what Gaganyaan is, a prototype mission,” he said. Training abroad, he noted, had shaped his thinking. “Experience on the Soyuz capsule and flying the Crew Dragon gives you a very good insight of what the system should look like and how we should evolve our own programme.“Both recalled the cultural impact of their year in the US. Shukla described training at historic facilities where Apollo crews once worked. “You absorbed not just from people who were teaching you, but also the walls and pathways. The environment was so friendly that we did not feel we were in a different country,” he said.“Space epitomizes deep tech, but it must also involve art because that is what human beings bring to the table,” Nair said. Looking ahead, he urged a “revolution in space affairs” that moves beyond rockets to ideas such as orbital data centers and lunar missions with Artemis partners.On the question of civilians flying, Shukla was unambiguous. “Civilians going to space is going to happen. Initial missions are critical to prove technology, but after that it opens up for everyone,” he said.The astronauts explained that the entire crew, including colleagues Ajit Krishnan and Angad Pratap, are helping draft launch pad procedures, crew escape system and human-rating standards. “We are making the protocols ourselves,” Nair said, comparing the task to building an air force from scratch.Shukla concluded that collaboration would define the next era. “When you leave the planet, Earth becomes your identity. There are no countries there,” he said, adding that this spirit would guide India’s steps from low-Earth orbit to the Moon and beyond.
