India is planning an ambitious project to launch its own space station, ISRO chief K Sivan said on Thursday. The space station project will be an extension of the Gaganyaan programme.

“We have to sustain the Gaganyaan programme after the launch of (the) human space mission. In this context, India is planning to have its own space station,” Sivan told reporters in New Delhi.

“It will be a smaller module, which would be mainly used to carry out microgravity experiments. We hope to take the project ahead only after the successful completion of Gaganyaan, in 2022,” Dr Sivan said. He added that the project will be conceptualized over the next 5-7 years.

Addressing a joint press conference with Sivan, Union Minister of State for Atomic Energy and Space, Jitendra Singh said that ISRO has resolved to send its first human mission into space in 2022.

On Wednesday, the Indian Space Research Organisation had announced that it will launch Chandrayaan-2, its second mission to the moon, on July 15.

First Published: Jun 13, 2019 15:57 IST