ISRO chief says Gaganyaan timeline unaffected despite PSLV-C62 mission anomaly

What ISRO said after the PSLV-C62 issue

ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan has said that the Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission remains on track despite the recent anomaly in the PSLV-C62 mission earlier this month. Addressing concerns about schedule impact, he described the PSLV incident as a separate programme, with analysis underway to identify what went wrong.

The PSLV-C62 launch, attempted on January 12, 2026, experienced a problem near the end of its third-stage burn, with a disturbance and subsequent deviation from the intended flight path. ISRO has stated that a detailed assessment was initiated soon after the observation.

Why Gaganyaan is being kept separate

Human spaceflight programmes are typically built around different qualification pathways, safety reviews and hardware validation, even when they share organisational expertise. Narayanan’s remarks underscore that ISRO is treating the PSLV investigation as a contained technical effort and not a trigger for across-the-board delays.

At public remarks around the same period, the ISRO chief also spoke about India’s broader space ambitions, including ongoing projects and future plans. The messaging aims to reassure stakeholders that the agency can investigate a launcher issue while continuing other mission workstreams.

What to watch next

• ISRO’s technical findings on the PSLV-C62 third-stage anomaly and any corrective actions.
• Updates on the next PSLV flight schedule and return-to-flight readiness steps.
• Gaganyaan test milestones, including hardware qualification and crew safety validations.
• Any official revision (or reaffirmation) of mission timelines after review boards meet.

For now, ISRO’s position is that Gaganyaan’s progress will continue as planned, even as engineers work through the PSLV data. The coming weeks should clarify both the root cause analysis and how quickly PSLV missions resume at full pace.