Bengaluru: The four Indian astronaut elects, who have been training in Russia for the Gaganyaan project, are all set to enter the last leg of the training module in Russia. 

They began the course in Moscow on February 10 earlier this year, Times of India notes. 

They are scheduled to return to India by the end of March 2021. This was confirmed by Glavkosmos, which has a tie-up with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). 

The website added Dmitry Loskutov, director general, Glavkosmos, as saying, "By the end of November, they should pass tests in the GCTC centrifuge and hyperbaric chamber module. The Indian astronauts are ongoing as scheduled and are set to be completed by the end of the first quarter 2021."  

"So far, Indian astronauts have accomplished training on crew actions in case of an abnormal descent module landing in the forest and marshy areas in winter (February 2020), on the water surface (June 2020), in the steppe in summer (July 2020)."
Four Indian Air Force fighter pilots are currently under training in Moscow, and are likely to be potential candidates for the Gaganyaan project.

The Rs 10,000-crore ambitious project is expected to be launched in 2022, the year of the 75th anniversary of India's Independence

Earlier, these elects were provided with theoretical classes on the basics of astrogation, the basics of manned spacecraft control and the Russian language to the Indian cosmonauts.

The contract for the training of Indian cosmonauts between Glavkosmos and the Human Spaceflight Center of ISRO was signed on June 27, 2019.

Since the end of March, due to the outbreak of COVID-19 infection, a lockdown was recommended for the Indian cosmonauts which they carefully observed, it said.

Earlier, officials had said that after the training in Russia, the cosmonauts will receive module-specific training in India, where they would be trained in crew and service module designed by ISRO, learn to operate it, work around it and do simulations.