Both the IAF, whose Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM) selected the astronaut designates, kept the identities of these individuals guarded. While the IAF video also does not reveal their faces and only shows them training in a short clip, an IAF spokesperson confirmed to TOI that the men in the video are the actual persons selected as part of Gaganyaan.
Isro is yet to officially finalise whether the first crewed Gaganyaan mission will carry two or three astronauts. However, one of them could go to space even before Gaganyaan as part of the collaboration between India and the US.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his recent state visit to the US, announced that an Indian could go to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of a NASA mission. Isro chairman S Somanath later told TOI that the astronauts selected for Gaganyaan could not be ruled out for the ISS mission and that the modalities were yet to be finalised.
India has four astronaut designates selected from about 60 IAF test pilots who were part of the selection process. Of these, 12 had cleared the “Level-1” selection conducted by IAM before the final four were picked in 2019.
The four have since been training. They completed basic training at the Gagarin Research & Test Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) in Russia and they are now part of mission-specific training being carried out in India.
A special training facility has been created off old airport road in Bengaluru, very close to the HAL airport, while the astronaut designates will also travel to other parts of the country for different training modules.