India has successfully completed the first unmanned test flight in its ambitious human space flight mission Gaganyaan, less than two hours after the launch was aborted with just four seconds to go for the lift-off.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tweeted,
This launch takes us one step closer to realising India’s first human space flight program, Gaganyaan. My best wishes to our scientists at @isro. https://t.co/6MO7QE1k2Z
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 21, 2023
As per PTI report report, After some tense moments following a system monitoring anomaly and two weather-related holds, the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) said scientists simulated an abort situation for the Crew Escape System (CES) to carry the Crew Module(CM) out of the test vehicle TV-D1. ISRO later tweeted about the mission
Mission Gaganyaan
TV D1 Test Flight is accomplished.
Crew Escape System performed as intended.
Mission Gaganyaan gets off on a successful note. @DRDO_India@indiannavy#Gaganyaan
— ISRO (@isro) October 21, 2023
The module to test the safety of crew in emergency situations descended using parachutes for a splashdown into the Bay of Bengal with planned precision, the space agency said.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik congratulated the team of scientists involved in the successful launching of the first test flight of India’s Gaganyaan mission. It is a proud moment for Indians, Patnaik said in a post on X.
“Congratulate the scientists of @isro on successfully launching the first test flight of #Gaganyaan mission. It is a proud moment for us as India takes another giant leap towards launching the crewed spacecraft into space. #ISRO,” he said.
Congratulate the scientists of @isro on successfully launching the first test flight of #Gaganyaan mission. It is a proud moment for us as India takes another giant leap towards launching the crewed spacecraft into space. #ISRO
— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) October 21, 2023
The ISRO scientists launched the rocket carrying payloads related to crew safety in the Gaganyaan mission with precision from Sriharikota and achieved the goal of Crew Module and Crew Escape separation.
“I am happy our team could understand an anomaly, rectify it and come back as fast. Congratulations to everybody. It is a big training for everybody here to prepare for the Gaganyaan programme…happy that the launch could happen within the allocated launch window,” the ISRO chief said.
“The CES took the crew module away from the vehicle and subsequent operations of the crew module, the separation of the CES, all the parachutes opening and the touch down at the sea at the required velocity has been very well accomplished.”
Somanath further said ISRO will come back with another unmanned Gaganyaan test vehicle mission early next year.
