Isro, Indian Navy perform harbour trials of crew module mockup for Gaganyaan mission | India News

NEW DELHI: In another milestone in the Gaganyaan mission, Isro and the Indian Navy in a joint operation successfully carried out the recovery trial operations, taking a step further in their preparations for India’s first human spaceflight mission.

The recovery trial operations of the mission entered into the second phase with the commencement of harbour trials on July 20 at the Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam, both the Indian Navy and Isro tweeted on Saturday.
Both Isro and the Navy jointly carried out the trials with the ship identified for the recovery operations during the first development mission of the test vehicle.

The trials were conducted at the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam using a mass and shape simulated crew module mockup (CMRM). This mockup was a crucial component in the testing process, ensuring that the recovery procedures accurately simulated conditions, an Isro statement said.
The various stages of recovery were simulated during the trials, including the attachment of the recovery buoy, towing, handling, and lifting of the crew module onto the ship deck. These procedures were executed according to the recovery sequence, demonstrating the preparedness of the teams involved.
To ensure a seamless and safe recovery process, the standard operating procedures (SOPs) were fine-tuned based on the experiences from the phase-1 trials at the Water Survival Training Facility (WSTF) in Kochi. This iterative approach allowed for refinements to be made, enhancing the efficiency and reliability of the recovery operations.
The two uncrewed flights, named Gaganyaan-1 and Gaganyaan-2 are scheduled to launch in 2024 followed by crewed flight in 2025 on an LVM3 rocket. If completed successfully, India will become the fourth nation to conduct independent human spaceflight after the Soviet Union/Russia, US and China.