spacetoday.net: Indian spacecraft returns to Earth

Posted: Mon, Jan 22, 2007, 7:18 AM ET (1218 GMT)
An Indian spacecraft launched earlier this month successfully returned to Earth early Monday, marking a major milestone for the Indian space program. The Space Recovery Experiment 1 (SRE-1) spacecraft splashed down in the Bay of Bengal at 11:16 pm EST Sunday (0416 GMT, 9:46 am Indian time Monday), about 140 kilometers from the Indian launch site at Sriharikota, and was recovered by Indian naval vessels shortly thereafter. SRE-1 was launched into low Earth orbit on January 10, carrying several microgravity experiments. SRE-1 is the first Indian spacecraft designed to return to Earth, and the apparent success of the mission is a major step forward as the country contemplates developing a manned spacecraft.