Isro successfully test-fires GSLV Mark III - Livemint

The 630-tonne rocket with two enormous solid boosters shot into the sky from a launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 9:30am. Photo: AFP

Sriharikota: Indian space scientists on Thursday successfully launched an experimental unmanned crew module from the nation’s largest rocket, bringing India a step closer to sending its own astronauts into space.

The cupcake-shaped module, supported by enormous parachutes, splashed down on its designated spot in the Bay of Bengal nearly 20 minutes 43 seconds after launch, marking the successful flight of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III.

The 630-tonne rocket with two enormous solid boosters shot into the sky from a launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 9:30am. “The performance of the solid and the liquid stage was as expected. We also had the unmanned crew module to understand the re-entry characteristics. The crew module has splashed down as expected in the Bay of Bengal. And has worked extremely well,” said K. Radhakrishnan , chairman, India Space Research Organization (Isro) to a thundering applause in the mission control centre.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Isro scientists saying, “Successful launch of GSLV Mk-III is yet another triumph of brilliance and hardwork of our scientists.”

In this sub-orbital flight, the launcher climbed an altitude of about 126km, with an orange flame trail and sticking to its designated trajectory, before ejecting the crew module.

The module—the size of a small bedroom—is designed to accommodate up to three astronauts in a future Indian manned mission to space. This experiment was meant to validate a number of technologies developed under Isro’s ‘critical technologies for human spaceflight’ programme.

“We have a new launch vehicle! The payload capacity will be significantly enhanced with the development of this launch vehicle. We are confident that in the next two years, we will have the operational cryogenic stage ready and will be able to launch several satellites using this launch vehicle,” said GSLV project director S. Somnath.

The launch vehicle in its experimental flight was carrying a dummy cryogenic stage as the purpose of the mission was to test the other two stages, flight validation of its complex atmospheric flight and the re-entry of the unmanned crew module.

GSLV-Mk III is designed to be a three-stage vehicle, 42.4 metre tall, with a lift-off weight of 630 tonnes. The first stage comprises two identical S200 large solid boosters (LSBs) with 200-tonne solid propellant, that are strapped on to the second stage, the L110 re-startable liquid stage.

The third stage is the cryogenic stage. The vehicle will have multi-mission launch capability for geosynchronous transfer orbit, polar and intermediate circular orbits. The preparations for the experimental flight began in February this year, according to M.Y.S. Prasad, director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

In January this year, Isro successfully launched the GSLV D5 with an indigenous cryogenic stage, which has been worked on by Isro scientists for over three decades.