The Indian Space Research Organisation has launched the first test flight of its newest rocket – the GSLV Mk.III – on Thursday, conducting a suborbital flight that also demonstrated a prototype crew capsule (CARE) for India’s proposed manned missions. Liftoff from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre occurred at 09:30 local time (04:00 UTC).ISRO Launch:
India’s new rocket, which the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) refers to by the names GSLV Mk.III and LVM3, is a completely new vehicle marking the third generation for India’s orbital launch systems.
The two-stage rocket is designed to place around 10 tonnes (9.8 Imperial tons, 11 US tons) of payload into low earth orbit or four tonnes (3.9 Imperial tons, 4.4 US tons) to a geosynchronous transfer orbit.
For Thursday’s mission only the first stage and boosters were live, while the inert second stage was loaded with liquid nitrogen to simulate propellant.