Sriharikota: ISRO successfully carried out the maiden test on  Gaganyaan programme on Saturday. It is India’s first human spacecraft mission as the test vehicle (TV-D1) demonstrated the crew escapes system’s performance during an in-flight emergency.

ISRO chairman S Somanath announced that ISRO would launch the first unmanned Gaganyaan vehicle in the first quarter of 2024. This is in line with the space agency’s plan to send three astronauts to low earth orbit and bring them back safely by 2025, he added. As planned, the crew module which will have the astronauts made a controlled splashdown in the sea 10km off Sriharikota.

Gaganyaan test vehicle launch, which lasted under 9 minutes, fulfilled all major objectives. The crew module separated at an altitude of 17km and deployed different kinds of parachutes to decelerate the descent speed from 363m/s to 8.5m/s. He also said that the crew escape system took the crew module away from the vehicle, and subsequent operations, including the touch-down at sea, have been well accomplished and we have confirmation for all of this. We had been at penance for the last 3 to 4 years. We are very happy to be able to do it on the very first attempt, said Mission director S Sivakumar.

ISRO said the main objectives of this test is flight demonstration, evaluation of test vehicles, crew escape systems, crew module characteristics, and deceleration systems demonstration at higher altitude and its recovery were all met with precision.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the launch takes us one step closer to realising India’s first human space flight programme. Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan, Governor Abdul Nazeer had congratulated ISRO scientists Gaganyaan on test flight mission successful.