Today at 10 am local time (08 am Kiev time), the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched a rocket containing a mock-up of the Gaganyan manned ship. The launch took place from the first launch pad of the spaceport in Sriharikot. The purpose of the test was to check the system of automatic emergency termination of the flight and rescue of the crew in the first part of the orbit. The set goals were successfully achieved.

India is expected to send three astronauts alone into low Earth orbit next year. Today’s tests of the command module, protective cover, adapter for mounting the capsule on the launch vehicle and the emergency crew rescue system were the most important milestones on the way to this goal.

The TV-D1 single-stage rocket lifted the capsule to an altitude of 17 km and accelerated it to Mach 1.2. Then the recovery system and the solid fuel system of capsule separation were activated. After being towed to a safe distance and dropped with parachutes, the capsule landed safely in the waters of the Bay of Bengal, 10 km from the coast, where it was rescued by a rescue ship.

Although the flight itself and all subsequent stages were successful, event organizers and spectators had to worry. At first weather conditions prevented the launch. The start then had to be canceled twice due to some technical problems. However, the rocket was launched two hours after the scheduled time and completed all tasks set before the test mission. Indian cosmonautics took one step closer to manned flights.