Gaganyaan Mission: ISRO reschedules launch of test vehicle mission

Sriharikota: The launch of the uncrewed flight test in the Gaganyaan Mission has been rescheduled for a lift-off at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, an official statement said.

The first unmanned flight test, designated as the Test Vehicle Development Flight Mission-1 (TV-D1 Flight Test), was scheduled to be launched from Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota by ISRO today at 8 a.m.

In a post on X (former Twitter), ISRO said, “The lift-off is rescheduled at 08:30 IST. Live streaming starts at 08:00 Hrs. IST.”

This flight test vehicle abort mission will demonstrate the performance of the Crew Escape system as part of the Gaganyaan mission. After the rocket launch, it will also test the safe landing in the Bay of Bengal
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This mission represents a significant milestone in India’s effort to demonstrate that it is possible to send humans into space. The test flight project aims to prove India’s capacity to send humans into a 400-kilometre orbit and safely bring them back to earth with a splashdown in the Bay of Bengal Sea.

Visuals of the Sriharikota entrance establishment show model rockets being placed at the entrance. Notably, around 20 major tests, including three uncrewed missions of the Human-Rated Launch Vehicle (HLVM3), are planned.

The Gaganyaan project envisages a demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching a crew of three members into an orbit of 400 km for a 3-day mission and bringing them safely back to earth by landing in Indian sea waters. This programme will make India the fourth nation to launch a manned spaceflight mission after the US, Russia, and China.

Building on the success of the Indian space initiatives, including the recent Chandrayan-3 and Aditya L1 missions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed that India should now aim for new and ambitious goals, including setting up ‘Bharatiya Antariksha Station’ (Indian Space Station) by 2035 and sending the first Indian to the Moon by 2040.