New Delhi, 22 July (Hindustan Times). ISRO and the Indian Navy have completed the Human Space Mission Crew Module Recovery and Lifting Tests at Visakhapatnam Harbor for ‘Mission Gaganyaan’. ISRO has carried out this test on an Indian Navy ship at the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam. India aims to send astronauts above 400 km by 2025. The first batch of Crew Recovery Team of ‘Mission Gaganyaan’ has been given Phase I trials at the Navy’s Water Survival Training Facility (WSTF) in Kochi.
The recovery test operation of Gaganyaan mission has entered the second phase with the commencement of harbor trials at Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the Indian Navy jointly tested the test vehicle on 20 July with a ship identified for recovery operations during the first development mission. ISRO and the Indian Navy at the Eastern Naval Command, Visakhapatnam, conducted port recovery tests using crew module mockups for the Gaganyaan human space flight mission. This trained team will now join the launching team of ISRO’s ‘Mission Gaganyaan’ in the coming months.
ISRO’s Bengaluru headquarters in a statement issued on Saturday said that this mockup is important in the test process because it accurately simulates the recovery procedures conditions. The statement also said that various phases of recovery were simulated during the tests, including pulling, handling and lifting of the crew module onto the deck of the ship. According to ISRO, the Gaganyaan project envisages demonstrating human spaceflight capability by launching a crew of three members into a 400 km orbit for a three-day mission and returning them safely to Earth by landing in Indian waters.
The first batch of the Crew Recovery Team of ISRO’s ‘Mission Gaganyaan’ has undergone the first phase of training at the Navy’s Water Survival Training Facility (WSTF) in Kochi. A team of naval divers and marine commandos trained the crew module in various sea conditions. The WSTF at Kochi is a Water Survival Test Facility of the Indian Navy, where aircrew are trained to perform stranded flight survival under multiple accident scenarios and weather conditions. The two-week training capsule covered mission conduct, actions to be taken during medical requirements and familiarization with various aircraft and their rescue equipment.
