Launch of unmanned test flight for Gaganyaan mission put on hold for now, says ISRO

An abnormality that will be examined prevented the test spacecraft carrying crew safety packages for the highly ambitious Gaganyaan human space flight mission from taking off as scheduled on Saturday, according to ISRO chief S Somanath.

The TV-D1 rocket's engine did not ignite during the flight.

The rocket failed to lift off from the spaceport here at 8.45 am, even as a "hold" signal flashed across the screens at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre while the final countdown was underway, after experiencing delays twice, totaling 45 minutes.

"But the engine ignition has not happened in the nominal course due to anomaly," Somanath stated shortly after the mission was halted, despite the extremely smooth air lift and automatic launch procedure preceding the order to lift off.

"And we need to ascertain what went wrong there. The car is quite safe, the whole thing is. He stated that ISRO will return shortly after analyzing what set off the automated launch process that held the vehicle. "We will have to reach the vehicle and then look at what has happened now," he said.

Thus, in light of the anomaly noticed, the launch has been postponed by the ground support computer doing this task. The chairman of the space agency stated from the Mission Control Center, "We will return after comprehending the anomaly, fix it, and plan the launch very soon.

He continued by saying that after reviewing what went wrong today, the updated launch timetable will be made public later.