The launch campaign for first uncrewed Gaganyaan mission G1 has officially begun, ISRO announced on Wednesday. It made the announcement exactly 10 years after the LVM3-X/CARE mission was launched to test a crew module.

🚀 On the 10th anniversary of LVM3-X/CARE, ISRO begins assembly of HLVM3 for Gaganyaan’s first un-crewed flight! A major step toward India’s maiden human spaceflight and future space ambitions. 🇮🇳 #Gaganyaan #ISRO

🔗 More details herehttps://t.co/KQb6uOXUm3 pic.twitter.com/QnwJf4WjLz
— ISRO (@isro) December 18, 2024

Launched on December 18, 2014, the mission marked the debut flight of the LVM3-X rocket which had a crew module mounted on top of it. As the mission ended, the crew module which ascended to an altitude of 126 kilometres made a splashdown in the Bay of Bengal exactly as planned.

Notably, the mission was carried out five years before Gaganayaan program was approved by the Centre in 2019. “It is a fitting coincidence that ten years later, on the same day, ISRO is gearing up for the first un-crewed mission of Gaganyaan, by commencing the stacking of human-rated LVM3, christened HLVM3,” ISRO said in a statement.

The agency went on to detail on the progress made on the rocket since LVM3. Gaganyaan missions will use the Heavy Launch Vehicle Mark 3 vehicle which ISRO says has been upgraded to meet human safety considerations. It has also been equipped with the Crew Escape System (CES) that will eject the crew spacecraft from the rocket in case of an emergency after liftoff. Standing 53 metres tall, the HLVM3 has a capacity to carry about 10 tonnes of payload to the low-Earth orbit (LEO).

ISRO attributed the developments to the achievements during the mission successfully conducted 10 years ago.

“The mission achieved several critical technical milestones, including the flight validation of the LVM3 vehicle, synchronized performance of the paired S200 solid rocket boosters, twin-engine operation of the Vikas engines in L110 stage, control-sharing algorithms across L110 and S200 stages, and complex separation mechanisms,” it said.

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What’s next?

According to ISRO, the human-rating of the LVM3 is now complete as all systems have been tested for enhanced reliability.

Moving forward, ISRO will work on assembling the rocket. The launch campaign began at 8:45 am IST on December 18 as work began on one of HLVM3’s two S200 side boosters.

The agency said that L110 core stage and the C32 of the rocket’s upper stage are ready at the launch complex for integration. Besides, the crew module will soon be mated with the service module at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center and the integration and testing of the Orbital Module will eventually happen at the UR Rao Satellite Center in Bengaluru. We will soon get a date for the launch of the uncrewed test mission.

ALSO SEE: Why Has ISRO Delayed Gaganyaan Astronaut Mission To 2026?

(Image: ISRO)