India launches GSLV Mark 3 on successful test flight
Posted: Thu, Dec 18, 2014, 8:01 AM ET (1301 GMT)
An upgraded version of India's most powerful launch vehicle successfully carried out a suborbital test flight on Thursday. The GSLV Mark 3 rocket, also known as LVM3, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at 11:00 pm EST Wednesday (0400 GMT, 9:30 am Indian time Thursday) on a suborbital test flight. The vehicle's two solid rocket boosters and its core stage engine performed well, Indian space agency officials said after the brief flight. The rocket carried a 3,775-kilogram spacecraft called the Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE), a prototype of a future potential Indian human spacecraft. CARE splashed down in the Bay of Bengal 20 minutes after launch after flying to a peak altitude of 126 kilometers on its suborbital arc. The rocket flew only a dummy upper stage on Thursday's flight; an operational cryogenic upper stage will be flown on a test flight in two years. The GSLV Mark III will ultimately be able to carry satellites weighing up to four tonnes into geosynchronous orbit, and could be used for launches of crewed spacecraft.
An upgraded version of India's most powerful launch vehicle successfully carried out a suborbital test flight on Thursday. The GSLV Mark 3 rocket, also known as LVM3, lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at 11:00 pm EST Wednesday (0400 GMT, 9:30 am Indian time Thursday) on a suborbital test flight. The vehicle's two solid rocket boosters and its core stage engine performed well, Indian space agency officials said after the brief flight. The rocket carried a 3,775-kilogram spacecraft called the Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE), a prototype of a future potential Indian human spacecraft. CARE splashed down in the Bay of Bengal 20 minutes after launch after flying to a peak altitude of 126 kilometers on its suborbital arc. The rocket flew only a dummy upper stage on Thursday's flight; an operational cryogenic upper stage will be flown on a test flight in two years. The GSLV Mark III will ultimately be able to carry satellites weighing up to four tonnes into geosynchronous orbit, and could be used for launches of crewed spacecraft.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Monday, October 20
Innospace secures Korea's first private commercial launch license for Hanbit-Nano mission
Chosun Ilbo — 7:34 am ET (1134 GMT) Innospace Obtains Korea’s First Private Commercial Launch Permit
BusinessKorea — 7:34 am ET (1134 GMT) Korea’s 1st commercial space vehicle cleared for launch, likely in November
Korea Times — 7:34 am ET (1134 GMT) Innospace Gets South Korean Launch Authorization For Hanbit-Nano
Aviation Week — 7:33 am ET (1133 GMT) SpaceX launches Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral on Sunday
WESH-TV Orlando — 7:33 am ET (1133 GMT) |
