Gaganyaan's TV-D1 Flight Launches Successfully, Crew Escape Module Touches Down in Sea

The lift-off of the Gaganyaan mission’s unmanned test flight, TV-D1, successfully took place today after initial hiccups. Test Vehicle D1 mission was launched for a lift-off from the first launch pad from Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota at 10:00 am.

The brief test flight sequence launched the crew escape system and crew module at an altitude of 17 km. The test flight made a safe touchdown in the sea, about 10 km from Sriharikota in the Bay of Bengal.

Earlier today, the launch, which was initially scheduled for 8:30 am, was put on hold due to some technical glitch.

The reasons behind the launch hold are identified and corrected, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in an X post, adding that the launch is now scheduled for 10:00 am.

The lift-off attempt of Gaganyaan TV-D1 could not take place because the engine ignition did not happen in a nominal course, ISRO chief S Somanath said.

“The lift-off attempt could not happen today…engine ignition has not happened in the nominal course, we need to find out what went wrong. The vehicle is safe, we need to look at what happened. We will come back soon. The computer which is doing function has withheld the launch. We will correct it and schedule launch soon,” he said.

ISRO was scheduled to launch unmanned flight tests for the ambitious Gaganyaan mission from Sriharikota on Saturday. Test Vehicle D1 mission was scheduled for a lift-off from the first launch pad at 8:30 am.

The official X (formerly Twitter) handle of the space agency shared pictures of the spacecraft ahead of the launch.

The lift-off, which was earlier scheduled for 8:00 am (IST), was later rescheduled to 8:30 am (IST).

The unmanned flight tests were scheduled to demonstrate the performance of the crew module escape system.