The four cosmonauts shortlisted for Gaganyaan, India’s first manned space mission, have completed their training in Russia, according to an official Russian statement here on Tuesday.

The ₹10,000-crore ambitious project is expected to be launched in 2022, the year of the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence.

The Four Indian Air Force fighter pilots are likely to be potential candidates for the Gaganyaan project.

Dmitry Rogozin, General Director of the State Corporation Roscosmos, on Thursday held a meeting with Indian cosmonaut candidates who successfully completed general space training, the agency said in a statement.

The meeting was also attended by the Ambassador of India to Russia, D.B. Venkatesh Varma and representatives of subsidiaries of the State Corporation Roscosmos, who took part in the training of Indian candidates for astronauts.

The contract for the training of Indian candidates for space flight between the Glavkosmos company (part of the Roscosmos State Corporation) and the Manned Space Flight Center of the Indian Space Research Organisation was signed on June 27, 2019.

Cosmonaut Training Center named after Yuri Gagarin on February 10, 2020 began the planned training of Indian cosmonaut candidates.

The training was paused in the end of March due to the outbreak of COVID-19 infection. It was later resumed in May.

The entire process of preparation and training included a number of elements necessary for future cosmonauts, such as medical and physical training, studying the Russian language, studying the design, layout and systems of the Soyuz transport manned spacecraft.