India moved a step closer to sending its own manned mission to space as well as heavy satellites when it successfully tested a next generation rocket and crew module. The country took forward its rocket technology with the successful flight testing of its heaviest next-generation rocket – the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV-Mark III) – and the crew module in a 20.43 minute mission. "The crew module that splashed in Bay of Bengal has been loaded on to an Indian Coast Guard ship to be brought to Ennore Port, near Chennai," S Somanath, project director, GSLV-Mark III
Precisely at 9.30 am, the 630-tonne rocket, standing 43.43 metre tall, rose from the second launch pad into the sky with a deep-throated roar. The rocket was designed to have a lifespan of just about five minutes. PM Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee congratulated ISRO on the successful launch, which was a 55 crore mission.
The main purpose was to test the rocket's atmospheric flight stability with around four tonne luggage. The experiment is part of India's plans to have a manned mission at a future date. The Thursday mission success is sweet for the Indian space fraternity as it comes after successful launch of Mars Orbiter last year and older version of GSLV rocket powered by its own cryogenic engine early this year. Currently India pays over Rs 500 crore to foreign space agencies to place four-ton communication satellites in orbit.
