Pictures of the country’s first human space mission Gaganyaan spacecraft have been revealed. This mission is to be launched in December next year. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has said that soon unmanned flight tests will be started for this mission. Recently ISRO had successfully completed Chandrayaan-3.
ISRO tweeted, “Unmanned flight tests will be started for the Gaganyaan mission. Preparations are being made for the flight test vehicle Abort Mission-1 to demonstrate the performance of the crew escape system.” The Gaganyaan project will demonstrate India’s ability to carry a crew of two to three members in a circular orbit about 400 kilometers from the Earth for one to three days and return them safely to Earth. Gaganyaan will land at a fixed location in the Indian maritime border. ISRO said that the success of this test flight will pave the way for the remaining qualification tests and unmanned missions.
Preparations for the first Developmental Flight Test Vehicle (TV-D1) for the first crew module of this mission are in the final stages. ISRO said, “The test vehicle is a single stage liquid rocket that has been developed for this abort mission. The payload consists of the Crew Module (CM) and Crew Escape System (CES) with its fast-acting motors. Apart from this, there are CM Fairing (CMF) and Interface Adapters. After integration, electrical testing of the crew module was done at ISRO’s laboratory in Bengaluru.
ISRO had decided not to rush into the Gaganyaan project. This mission has been designed in such a way that it will be successful in the first attempt itself. For this, testing and demonstration have been increased. ISRO Director, S Somanath had told that Gaganyaan was to be launched two years ago but it has been delayed due to Corona. He had said, “Our thinking is different now. We do not want to rush. We have taken a decision. The main objective of this human space flight is a completely determined safe mission.” In the last few years, the country has increased expertise in space related missions.
