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Gaganyaan: India launched its test flight ahead of sending crew into space



The Gaganyaan spacecraft was launched at 10:00 local time (04:30 GMT) on Saturday from Sriharikota. This was the day's second attempt - the first was put on hold five seconds before the scheduled launch time. The test was conducted to demonstrate whether the crew could safely escape the rocket in case it malfunctioned.


"I am very happy to announce the successful accomplishment of the TV-D1 (Test Vehicle Demonstration 1) mission," S Somanath, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), said after the launch. The successful launch will now pave the way for other unmanned missions, including sending a robot into space next year.


Named after the Sanskrit word for craft or vehicle to the sky, the Gaganyaan project has been developed at the cost of 90 bn rupees. It aims to send the astronauts to an orbit of 400km (248 miles) and bring them back after three days. If it succeeds, India will become only the fourth country to send a human into space after the Soviet Union, the US and China.

But before that, the space agency ISRO had to demonstrate that the capsule carrying humans could safely return home. And that is what Saturday's flight - called Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (or TV-D1), did.


Ahead of the launch, Mr Somanath had described the spacecraft's "Crew Escape System (CES)" - which was tested on Saturday - as "a very critical system". "If anything happens to the rocket, we should be able to keep the crew safe by moving them away at least by 2km (1.2 miles) from the exploding rocket. So after take-off, once the rocket is 12km to 16km in the sky, we'll trigger the abort system and take the crew escape system away from it," he added.


After the launch, a series of parachutes were deployed as the module began its descent to help ensure a safe touchdown in the waters of Bay of Bengal, about 10km from Sriharikota coast. The Indian navy would be waiting at a safe distance with a ship and a team of divers who will recover the module and bring it safely back to shore.


Since the first test was successful, Isro will send a humanoid - a robot that resembles a human - in an unmanned Gaganyaan spacecraft next year, junior minister for science Jitendra Singh has said. Called Vyommitra - Sanskrit word for "space friend" - the female humanoid was unveiled by Isro in 2019.




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