The mission will make India the fourth country to launch a human spaceflight mission.
Chennai:
Indian Space Research Organization Chairman S. Somnath said on Saturday that the crew module, separated from the test vehicle of the Gaganyaan mission, has been successfully recovered from the Bay of Bengal.
“The crew module has been completely recovered from the sea (Bay of Bengal) and brought to Chennai port. There has been no anomaly. All data looks very good. A series of missions of 20 tests are to be carried out. The test was for the crew escape system,” S Somnath said.
ISRO successfully conducted the maiden test flight of ‘TV-D1’ (Test Vehicle Development Flight 1) in the Gaganyaan mission from the Satish Dhawan Space Center (SDSC) at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh after it was aborted at 8.45 am today due to a problem with the engine ignition.
ISRO chief Somanath informed that the aim of this mission was to demonstrate that the crew escape system had been achieved during the mission.
“I am very pleased to announce the successful completion of the TV-D1 mission. The purpose of this mission was to demonstrate the crew escape system for the Gaganyaan program through a test vehicle demonstration where the vehicle achieved a Mach number, which is slightly above the speed of sound and caused an abort condition to allow the crew escape system to function,” he said.
The mission objectives of the TV-D1 launch were flight demonstration and evaluation of test vehicle subsystems; flight demonstration and evaluation of the Crew Escape System, including various separation systems; crew module characteristics; and demonstration of higher altitude deceleration system and its recovery.
The Test Vehicle is a single-stage liquid rocket developed for this abort mission. The payload consists of the Crew Module (CM) and Crew Escape Systems (CES) with their fast-acting solid engines, along with CM fairings (CMF) and interface adapters.
This flight simulated the abort condition during the ascent trajectory, corresponding to a Mach number of 1.2 encountered during the Gaganyaan mission. This mission represents a major milestone in India’s efforts to demonstrate that it is possible to send humans into space.
The Gaganyaan project aims to demonstrate the capabilities of human spaceflight by launching a three-member crew into a 400 km orbit for a three-day mission and returning them safely to Earth by landing in Indian waters.
This program will make India the fourth country to launch a manned space mission after the US, Russia and China.
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