Gaganyaan mission: Test vehicle lift-off could not happen today, says ISRO chief Somanath

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On Saturday, ISRO chief Somanath announced that the Gaganyaan mission test vehicle lift-off could not happen on October 21. According to the ISRO officials, engine ignition has not happened in the nominal course.

Speaking about the Gaganyaan test vehicle launch, ISRO chief said, "We will come back soon after analysing what triggered the automatic launch sequence holding the vehicle."

After suffering delays twice, totaling 45 minutes, the rocket failed to lift off from the spaceport at 8.45 am, even as a "hold" signal flashed across the screens at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre while the final countdown was on.

According to the officials, there was a very smooth air lift and automatic launch sequence leading up to the command to lift off.

"We have to find out what went wrong; the vehicle is safe," he further informed.

Earlier in the morning, the launch of the uncrewed flight test in the Gaganyaan Mission was rescheduled for a lift-off at 8:30 a.m according to the official statement.

The test vehicle mission is predecessor to the Gaganyaan programme which aims to send humans into space on a Low Earth Orbit of 400kms for three days and bring them safely back to Earth.

"The revised launch schedule will be announced later after analysing what went wrong today," the ISRO chief announced.

The Test Vehicle is a single-stage liquid rocket developed for this abort mission. The payloads consist of the Crew Module (CM) and Crew Escape Systems (CES) with their fast-acting solid motors, along with CM fairing (CMF) and Interface Adapters. This flight simulated the abort condition during the ascent trajectory corresponding to a Mach number of 1.2 encountered in the Gaganyaan mission.

(with inputs from news agencies)