Hyderabad, March 4 -- In the centuries to come human habitation willno longer be confined to the planet earth. They will travel vast distances and explore new planets. In thisventure India will not be lagging behind and its ambitious Gaganyaan projectis a part of a grand scheme that may one day take Indians far away into the limitless reachesof outer space.

In 1984 Wing CommanderRakesh Sharma of the Indian Air Forceflew aboard the Soviet craft Soyuz T-11as part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme. He became the first Indian citizen to travel into space. But now India seeks to end the practice of having an arrangement with other nations to send our own astronauts into space.

This time the Gaganyaan project will takethree men into space. ...