India's space agency ISRO has confirmed that the first uncrewed test flight of its long-delayed Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme will launch this year, after previously missed targets in 2022 and 2025. ISRO Chairman Dr V. Narayanan made the announcement during India's third National Space Day, ending a year of silence on the programme's timeline and signalling that testing of the rocket and crew module is nearly complete. Success would make India only the fourth nation, after Russia, the USA and China, to independently launch humans into orbit.

The test flights will use ISRO's LVM3 rocket, flown nine times without failure, now human-rated with a solid-fuel crew escape system. The Gaganyaan capsule is designed to carry three "Vyomanauts" on a three-day mission in a 400km orbit before splashing down in Indian waters, though ISRO has not confirmed dates for the second and third test flights or a first crewed launch, nor whether a robot will still fly on an early test. Officials also used the event to announce longer-term ambitions, including an Indian space station by around 2035 and greater involvement of private companies in building launch vehicles, echoing approaches used by NASA and Japan's space agency.