Last week, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi bestowed them the “astronaut wings,” the four Indian Air Force officers, Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap, and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla, were a picture of confidence and determination.

Behind this is a rigorous training regimen the four astronauts-designate for Gaganyaan, India’s first crewed space mission, have been undergoing at the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) new astronaut training facility in Bengaluru.