‘Gaganyaan’, ISRO’s Unmanned Test Flight for Human Space Mission Lifts Off in 2nd Attempt

Sriharikota: ISRO’s unmanned test flight for its first human spaceflight mission ‘Gaganyaan’ lifted off from Sriharikota in second attempt

It is India’s first landmark in India’s human space mission.

Test Vehicle D1 mission was scheduled for a lift-off from the first launch pad at 8 am which was revised to 8.45 am. But just 5 seconds before the launch, the countdown stopped. ISRO identified the cause and successfully pulled off the test at 10am.

“We are very happy to announce the success of the mission. The purpose of the mission was to demonstrate the crew escape system. The vehicle went slightly above the speed of sound, before it initiated the crew escape system. All the parachutes operate, and touched down at the expected velocity,” Indian Space Research Organisation S Somanation said.

Efforts are on to retrieve the crew modules from the sea.

The test vehicle mission is the predecessor to the Gaganyaan programme which aims to send humans into space on a Low Earth Orbit of 400kms for three days and bring them safely back to the Earth.

Gaganyaan is scheduled to launch in 2024 and ISRO has envisioned setting up a space station by 2035.