Two missions, one year: A new era for human spaceflight
In 2026, the world watches two landmark missions that promise to reshape how humanity accesses and stays in low-Earth orbit. India’s Gaganyaan program and NASA’s Artemis-II mission approach space exploration from different angles—technology, geopolitics, and international collaboration—yet they converge on a shared vision: safer, more frequent human presence above the planet. As ISRO and NASA prepare to launch crews toward the vicinity of the Moon and beyond, the implications stretch well past single missions and into the long-term architecture of space activity.
Gaganyaan: democratizing manned spaceflight for a billion aspirations
India’s Gaganyaan program signals a bold leap for a country with a rapidly growing space sector. Beyond achieving a crewed orbital flight, the mission is about building indigenous capability, developing life-support and navigation systems, and inspiring a generation of scientists, engineers, and students. If successful in 2026, Gaganyaan would demonstrate that a nation with a large population and modest space budget can operate a crewed program with robust safety standards and global interoperability. This is crucial for a world where space is no longer the sole domain of a few historic spacefaring nations; it becomes an ecosystem in which emerging players contribute to, and benefit from, shared knowledge and commercial activity.
