ISRO faced a setback on Saturday as the maiden Test Vehicle for the Gaganyaan human space flight mission was postponed due to an unidentified technical fault. The Test Vehicle D1 mission was initially set for liftoff from the first launch pad at 8 am but was rescheduled to 8.30 am and then 8.45 am. Despite the adjustments, ISRO confirmed that the launch of the test vehicle carrying crew safety-related payloads for the Gaganyaan mission in Sriharikota is currently on “hold.”
ISRO chief S Somnath provided insight into the situation, stating, “The lift-off attempt could not happen today…engine ignition has not happened in the nominal course, we need to find out what went wrong. The vehicle is safe, we need to look at what happened. We will come back soon, the computer which is doing function has withheld the launch…we will correct it and schedule the launch soon.”
Following this announcement, the countdown timer displayed on monitors at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre was removed. The 13-hour countdown had commenced on Friday at 7 pm.
The Test Vehicle mission serves as a precursor to the Gaganyaan program, which aims to send humans into space on a Low Earth Orbit of 400kms for three days and safely return them to Earth.
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