Speaking at the convocation of IIT Bhubaneswar, ISRO chairman K Sivan said India is moving ahead to meet its target of sending a man to space by December 2021. He asserted that though the attempt to soft land Chandrayaan-2's 'Vikram' module on the lunar surface did not go as per plan, it will in no way affect the 'Gaganyaan' mission.
"By December 2020, we will have our first unmanned mission of human space plane. The second unmanned human space plane, we target for July 2021. By December 2021, the first Indian will be carried by our own rocket ... This is the target Isro is working for," said Sivan.