Gaganyaan mission: ISRO to launch uncrewed flight test from Sriharikota

Sriharikota: The Indian Space Research Organisation is all set to launch an uncrewed flight test on Saturday morning, marking the first step towards the Gaganyaan mission.

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

ISRO announced the countdown for the launch with a post on ‘X’, stating, “The countdown leading to the launch at 08:00 Hrs. IST on October 21, 2023, has commenced.”

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.

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 the earth with a splashdown in the Bay of Bengal Sea.

Visuals of the Sriharikota entrance establishment show model rockets being placed at the entrance.
It’s noteworthy that around 20 major tests, including 3 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 3 members to an orbit of 400 km for a 3-day mission and bringing them back safely to earth, by landing in Indian sea waters.
This program 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 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 first Indian to the Moon by 2040.