ISRO’s Vital Test for ‘Gaganyaan’ Manned Space Mission in Pictures

ISRO has achieved a successful launch today for its unmanned test flight, marking a crucial step toward the ‘Gaganyaan’ mission, which is India’s first human spaceflight endeavor. This success comes after a brief hold in the lift-off process. S. Somnath, the head of ISRO, explained that the initial hold occurred due to a ground computer detection of non-conformance. However, the issue was promptly identified and resolved.

The primary objective of this mission is to demonstrate the functionality of the crew escape system. According to S. Somnath, the vehicle exceeded the speed of sound before initiating the crew escape system. The escape system effectively separated the crew module from the vehicle, and subsequent operations, including the safe touch-down in the sea, were executed successfully.

Further data and analysis will be provided after the recovery of the crew modules from the sea.

Mission Director S. Sivakumar reported that all systems performed well during the test flight launch.

The ‘Gaganyaan’ mission represents a significant milestone as India strives to achieve Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of establishing an Indian Space Station by 2035 and sending an Indian astronaut to the Moon by 2040.