Gaganyaan's orbital module has two parts: a crew module where the gaganyatris live, and a service module that powers and propels it. Together they ride India's most powerful rocket — the human-rated HLVM3.
| Spacecraft | Gaganyaan crewed orbital vehicle |
|---|---|
| Operator | Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), with HAL & DRDO |
| Crew capacity | 3 (first crewed flights expected to carry 1–3) |
| Orbital module mass | ≈ 8,200 kg (crew module ≈ 5,300 kg + service module ≈ 2,900 kg) |
| Dimensions | ≈ 3.5 m diameter × 3.58 m height; ~8 m³ pressurized volume |
| Orbit | Low Earth orbit, ≈ 400 km |
| Design life | Up to 7 days |
| Service module engines | 5 × 440 N liquid engines + 16 × 100 N RCS thrusters (MMH / MON-3) |
| Descent | 10-parachute deceleration system; splashdown at sea, Indian Navy recovery |
| Launch vehicle | HLVM3 (human-rated LVM3) |
| Launch site | Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, India |
A 5.3-tonne pressurized capsule with life support (an indigenous Environmental Control & Life Support System), crew seats, side-hatch entry, a heat shield for re-entry, and the SAKHI smart assistant that monitors astronaut health and tasks.
A 2.9-tonne unpressurized module with solar panels and propulsion. Its five 440 N engines circularize the orbit and perform the deorbit burn; sixteen RCS thrusters keep the spacecraft precisely pointed.
Five quick-acting solid motors in a tractor tower can pull the crew module away from a failing rocket in seconds — from the pad or in flight. Proven in the Pad Abort Test (2018) and TV-D1 (2023).
Two apex-cover chutes, two drogues, three pilots and three 25 m mains slow the capsule for splashdown — with redundancy so it lands safely even if one main fails.
A half-humanoid robot that speaks Hindi and English flies on the uncrewed test missions, monitoring cabin temperature, pressure and radiation before humans fly.
The HLVM3 is the human-rated version of ISRO's heaviest rocket, the LVM3 — the same family that launched Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3 to the Moon.
Human-rating means every system is upgraded for reliability: the HS200 solid boosters and the high-thrust Vikas core-stage engines run at reduced pressures with extra margins, the CE-20 cryogenic upper-stage engine passed human-rating certification in 2024 after thousands of seconds of hot-fire testing, and quad-redundant computers watch the vehicle's health — ready to trigger the escape system automatically. Acceleration is capped near 4 g for crew comfort.