Gaganyaan's first test flight on Saturday: How to watch
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set for the first-ever test flight of its Gaganyaan mission scheduled for October 21. Per ISRO, the upcoming flight, called Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1) will be a short-duration mission. The launch will happen from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. Interested individuals can watch the mission lift-off from Launch View Gallery (LVG).
How to watch the TV-D1 test flight launch?
Those who are interested in watching the launch of the TV-D1 mission from Sriharikota on Saturday can register on ISRO's official website. The registration commences at 6:00pm IST today. Do note that there is no entrance fee to watch the launch event. ISRO is yet to confirm if it will provide live streaming of the test flight.
Gaganyaan will be India's first-ever crewed mission
The Gaganyaan mission aims to demonstrate India's "human spaceflight capability." The mission will take three astronauts into a 400km orbit for three days and return them to Earth, making a splashdown in Indian waters. However, before the actual crewed mission, ISRO is planning to conduct several demonstration missions. These include Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT), Pad Abort Test (PAT) and Test Vehicle (TV) flights.
What is the TV-D1 mission about?
The main goal of the TV-D1 mission is to test the Crew Module (CM) that will house astronauts during the final crewed Gaganyaan mission. This test flight will simulate an abort scenario and assess the Crew Escape System (CES). The CES is designed to safely bring back astronauts to Earth if any issues were to occur as the spacecraft heads to space.
TV-D1 will end with a splashdown in Bay of Bengal
To sum it up, TV-D1 will send the CM to space and will end with a splashdown in the Bay of Bengal. The Indian Navy will help with the module recovery process. The success of the TV-D1 will be crucial as it will make way for further qualification tests and uncrewed missions, ultimately setting the ground for India's first astronaut space mission.
