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Calling human space flight the next logical step, he said the mission is targeting a weeklong journey.

"Human space flight is in our plans. In 2006-07 a feasibility study began on the capability of India to launch a human space flight. The spacecraft will travel 275 to 400 million kilometres around the earth for a week and on its return will launch in the ocean. We found it is feasible," Radhakrishnan told the D D Kosambi Festival of Ideas.

He added that constructing a spacecraft reliable enough to carry humans is the biggest challenge for Isro.

"A vehicle should be such that only one failure in 100 flights can be tolerated. Several things have to be taken care of in the design. If some failure is taking place in the vehicle, we have to know at least nine seconds before so that the crew can be ejected out safely."

He said the GSLV-MK-IIIthe Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk-III, India's largest rocket to dateis suitable for the human space flight mission as its lower section can carry a weight of up to 10 tonnes, which amounts to around 2-3 crew members.

Asked if the country is also working towards a programme that can send humans as tourists to and from Mars, Radhakrishnan indicated that such a plan is far off for the country for now.

Speaking about India's Mars Orbiter Mission, he said ISRO had plan B in place if the onboard liquid engine of Mangalyaan failed to start for the Mars orbit insertion after being in sleep mode for 300 days. "If the main rocket refused to fire, we had plan Bto fire the small thrusters for a very long time. But we didn't have to use plan B."

He said Mangalyaan has now provided a great amount of technology to feed other missions for the country.

See the article here:

India ready for own space mission: K Radhakrishnan, former Isro