Why have Gaganyaan astronauts been kept away from public glare? Science minister Jitendra Singh responds

NEW DELHI: Union minister Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday that the four Gaganyaan astronauts are not being exposed to the public so that there is no "distraction" during theur training.
"This was done to ensure that there were no distractions, as they were undergoing certain acclimatisation and training programmes," Singh informed the Lok Sabha, according to news agency PTI.
"It was a view that giving too much exposure to the media and the public might cause a distraction which may not be in the compatible interest of all," he added.
Singh was responding to a question on why the astronauts have been kept away from public eyes.
The astronauts chosen for the Gaganyaan project are test pilots with the Indian Air Force: Group Captains Prasanth Nair, Ajit Krishnan, Angad Prathap and Shubhanshu Shukla. Their identities were revealed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February 2024.
Group Captain Shukla, a Wing Commander at the time, was promoted next month, following his selection for the Gaganyaan project.
He will also be a part of Axiom Mission 4, which will see him travel to the International Space Station with three fellow crew members: ^{Commander Peggy Whitson} and Mission Specialists Slawosz Uznanski and Tibor Kapu.
Group Captain Shukla became "more widely known" because of this ISS mission, according to Singh, the Union minister of State for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences.
"The chosen one was Wing Commander Shukla, who is now Group Captain Shukla. That is how his name came to be little more widely known," he said.
Under Gaganyaan, Isro aims to demonstrate India's indigenous capability to undertake human space flight missions to Low Earth Orbit. The government has approved two unmanned missions and a manned one, under this program.
The crewed mission is expected to be launched in late 2026 or early 2027.