The first test flight for the “TV-D1” (Test Vehicle Development Flight 1), a component of the Indian astronaut project Gaganyaan, will occur on October 21, according to ISRO Chief Dr. S. Somanath on Saturday. He promised that at least three additional tests of the same kind would be conducted after D1. The crew module that will house Indian astronauts during human spaceflight later next year will be tested during the test vehicle development flight (TV-D1) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
“Test Vehicle-D1 mission is scheduled for October 21. This is the Gaganyaan program. The Gaganyaan program requires testing, demonstrating the crew escape system. The crew escape system is a very critical system in Gaganyaan,” Somanath told reporters in Madurai.
TV-D1 involves launching the crew module to outer space, bringing it back to earth and recovering it after touchdown in the Bay of Bengal.
“So this test is to demonstrate that crew escape system in one condition of the flight. So this condition we are demonstrating is called the Transonic condition… Every month we will have at least one launch. After this test vehicle launch, we have GSLV. Then we have SSLV. Then after that, the Gaganyaan unmanned mission will be there. In between there will be a PSLV launch. So before January, you will see at least 4-5 launches,” Somanath said.
