Bangalore (ISJ): Ahead of its plans for a manned space mission, Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO has unveiled an indigenously made astronaut capsule. The crew module structure, which was fabricated by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Bangalore, was handed over to Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram. The module will now be equipped with systems necessary for crew support, navigation, guidance and control systems ahead of the test flight of ISRO’s advanced rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV-Mark III,
capable of lifting 10 tonnes into a low-Earth orbit, sometimes in mid-2014. With the successful launch of GSLV-D5, powered by indigenously made cryogenic engine, ISRO now has the capability to launch heavier rockets into space, including human space flights. “Our Aerospace Division has produced this Crew Module in a record time to meet the requirements of ISRO”, said Dr. R.K. Tyagi, Chairman, HAL. HAL has been a partner in ISRO’s space programmes like the Mars Mission and GSLV-D5. It provided satellite structure, propellant tankages and thirteen types of riveted structural assemblies, seven types of welded propellant tankages including the cryogenic liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen tanks and cryogenic state structures for GSLV-D5. The space capsule is designed for a week-long space mission carrying two or three astronauts. However, there will be no crew or animals on board the capsule during the test flight. So far only Russia, the United States and China have sent humans into Earth?s orbit. The only Indian to have flew into space was a former Indian Air Force pilot Rakesh Sharma as part of an Indo-Russian mission abroad the Soyuz T-11 in 1984.
