Gaganyaan Mission: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has postponed the launch of its uncrewed flight test for its ambitious manned space mission – Gaganyaan. The lift off attempt could not be completed, ISRO said without specifying the reasons.

“TV D1 Test Flight Liftoff attempt couldn’t be completed. Updates will follow,” ISRO said in a post on X.

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The inaugural uncrewed flight test, known as the Test Vehicle Development Flight Mission-1 (TV-D1 Flight Test), was scheduled to take off from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. The countdown to the launch was officially announced by ISRO.

However, according to reports, the lift off could not be achieved reportedly due to poor visibility and adverse weather conditions.

The flight test vehicle abort mission was aimed at demonstrating the performance of the Crew Escape system as part of the Gaganyaan mission. It was also supposed to test the safe landing in the Bay of Bengal after the rocket launch.

This mission represents a significant milestone in India’s effort to demonstrate its technological prowess to send humans into space.

The test flight project aims to prove India’s capacity to send humans into a 400-kilometre orbit and safely bring them back to the earth with a splashdown in the Bay of Bengal Sea.

Earlier, visuals of the Sriharikota entrance establishment show model rockets being placed at the entrance.

It’s noteworthy that around 20 major tests, including 3 uncrewed missions of the Human Rated Launch Vehicle (HLVM3), are planned.

The Gaganyaan project envisages a demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching a crew of 3 members to an orbit of 400 km for a 3-day mission and bringing them back safely to earth, by landing in Indian sea waters. This program will make India the fourth nation to launch a manned spaceflight mission after the US, Russia, and China.

Building on the success of the Indian space initiatives, including the recent Chandrayan-3 and Aditya L1 Missions, Prime Minister Modi directed that India should now aim for new and ambitious goals, including setting up ‘Bharatiya Antariksha Station’ (Indian Space Station) by 2035 and sending first Indian to the Moon by 2040.

(With Inputs from Agency)