Ajit Krishnan
Who is Ajit Krishnan?
Who are the four Gaganyaan astronauts?
What is Ajit Krishnan’s educational background?
What experience does Ajit Krishnan have as a pilot?
What training did Ajit Krishnan undergo for the Gaganyaan mission?
Ajit Krishnan (born April 19, 1982, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) is one of the four astronauts selected for India’s first crewed spaceflight program, Gaganyaan, scheduled to launch its first crewed flight in 2027. He is a test pilot and a group captain in the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Education and IAF career
Krishnan studied at various Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs; “Central Schools”)—a network of schools established by the Government of India—across India and completed his secondary education at KV Air Force Station Yelahanka in Bangalore (now Bengaluru) in 1999. He trained as a cadet at the National Defence Academy, graduating in 2001–02, before joining the Air Force Academy in Dundigal (now in Telangana). There, he was awarded the President’s Gold Medal and Sword of Honour at the end of his training, indicating meritorious performance. He also attended the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington, Tamil Nadu.
The four Gaganyaan astronauts-designate are commissioned officers in the Indian Air Force. Shubhanshu Shukla, Angad Pratap, and Krishnan serve at the rank of group captain, and Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair serves at the rank of air commodore. The IAF’s officer ranks, in descending order, are:
- air chief marshal
- air marshal
- air vice marshal
- air commodore
- group captain
- wing commander
- squadron leader
- flight lieutenant
- flying officer
Krishnan was commissioned in the fighter pilot stream of the Indian Air Force on June 21, 2003. He became a flying instructor and test pilot and obtained 2,900 hours of flight experience on various aircraft, including the Sukhoi Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Dornier, and Antonov An-32. He became a wing commander on June 21, 2016, and a group captain on December 2, 2020.
Krishnan pursued a master’s by research at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, studying the manual override methods used by spacecraft for reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.
Gaganyaan mission
In 2019 Krishnan was among several test pilots shortlisted by the Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM), Bengaluru, for the Gaganyaan human spaceflight program. The 12 candidates selected by the IAM were pared to the final four after a rigorous evaluation process conducted by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; India’s space agency) along with the IAM. From early 2020 to 2021, Krishnan trained at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia and subsequently started training at ISRO’s Astronaut Training Facility in Bengaluru.
In February 2024 Krishnan was announced as one of India’s four astronauts-designate (along with Shubhanshu Shukla, Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, and Angad Pratap) and was conferred astronaut wings by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a ceremony at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
In May 2025, amid India’s border security tensions with Pakistan, Krishnan was temporarily recalled to active IAF duty. Despite the reassignment, he confirmed that he was still part of the Gaganyaan mission.
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