Test
flight success of Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1) on 21 October 2023 morning
heralds successive sequential trial flights before the final “Gaganyaan”
launch, said Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science &
Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh in his first response soon after the entire
exercise was accomplished as expected, with a single engine rocket
carrying an early depressurised version of "Gaganyaan" Crew Module
(CM) to an altitude of around 17 kilometre followed by final descent
using a parachute for its splash down.
The
Minister of State for Space stated, “this is a critical step in the ISRO
journey to launch a crewed human spacecraft through “Gaganyaan”
mission. Today’s exercise tested the performance of the Crew Escape System
on the Crew Module of the Gaganyaan mission. Basically, it tested the
safety mechanism that will allow the crew of the "Gaganyaan" mission
to escape the spacecraft in case the mission is aborted due to a
malfunction. Coming less than two months after the successful Moon landing
by Chandrayaan-3, today’s event has paved the way for a series of tests of
systems and procedures with the aim to ultimately launch an Indian astronaut in
space, possibly around the year 2025”.
