Gaganyaan first test flight on Oct 21

♦ The system named Test Vehicle Abort Mission (TV-D1)

♦ Navy already began mock operations to recover module

♦ Ahead of manned mission, test flight with Vyommitra planned

New Delhi/Sriharikota: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will execute the first of multiple test flights ahead of the Gaganyaan mission — India’s first manned mission to space — on October 21.

The test will be conducted at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota and is intended to test the ‘crew module’ or the part of vehicle where the Indian astronauts will be housed.

Disclosing this, Union Minister of Science and Technology and Space Jitendra Singh said the test involves launching the module to outer space and bringing it back to earth and recovering it after touchdown in the Bay of Bengal. The Navy personnel have already started mock operations to recover the module, said Singh.

Speaking at an event organised by a private news channel, Singh said, “ISRO will also test the efficacy of the crew escape system, which is the crucial part of Gaganyaan mission.” If the spacecraft, while ascending into space faces a problem, the escape system is expected to separate and bring the crew safely back to sea from where they will be picked by the Navy personnel.

In the first of these tests called, Test Vehicle Abort Mission (TV-D1), the module will be identical to the one deployed to space, except that it will be ‘unpressurised.’

The Gaganyaan project envisages to demonstrate human spaceflight capability by launching a crew of three members to an orbit of 400km for a three-day mission and bringing them back safely.

The space agency said the mission also plans to demonstrate the technology preparedness levels before carrying out the final human space flight mission. The success of this test will set the stage for the first unmanned Gaganyaan mission and ultimately manned mission to outer space in low Earth orbit, said the minister. Before the ultimate manned Gaganyaan mission, there will be a test flight next year, which will carry Vyommitra, the female robot astronaut, he added.