India successfully launches its own ''space shuttle''

BENGALURU: India on Monday successfully launched the first technology demonstrator of indigenously made Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), capable of launching satellites into orbit around earth and then re-enter the atmosphere, from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

This handout photograph taken and released by the Indian Space Research Organisation on May 23, 2016, shows a 'Reusable Launch Vehicle' or RLV-TD as it is launched from Sriharikota. — AFP

Bengaluru, May 23

India on Monday successfully launched the first technology demonstrator of indigenously made Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), capable of launching satellites into orbit around earth and then re-enter the atmosphere, from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

"Mission accomplished successfully," an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) spokesman said soon after RLV-TD HEX-01 was flight tested with the take off at 7 am.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

This is the first time ISRO has launched a winged flight vehicle, which glided back onto a virtual runway in the Bay of Bengal, some 500 km from the coast.

Known as hypersonic flight experiment, it was about 10 minutes mission from liftoff to splashdown.

The RLV-TD is a scaled-down model of the reusable launch vehicle.

RLV, being dubbed as India's own space shuttle, is the unanimous solution to achieve low cost, reliable and on-demand space access, according to ISRO scientists.

RLV-TD is a series of technology demonstration missions that have been considered a first step towards realising a Two Stage To Orbit (TSTO) fully re-usable vehicle, ISRO said.

It has been configured to act as a flying testbed to evaluate various technologies, including hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise flight and hypersonic flight using air-breathing propulsion, it said.

The 6.5 metre-long 'aeroplane'-like structure weighing 1.75 tonnes was hoisted into the atmosphere on a special rocket booster.

The RLV-TD is described as "a very preliminary step" in the development of a reusable rocket, whose final version is expected to take in 10 to 15 years.

WATCH: India launches its first indigenous space shuttle, the RLV-TD from Sriharikota(Andhra Pradesh)https://t.co/G0SxiQbJgw
— ANI (@ANI_news) May 23, 2016

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated scientists on the successful launch of India's first indigenously made space shuttle- the Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV).

"Launch of India's first indigenous space shuttle RLV-TD is the result of the industrious efforts of our scientists.
Congrats to them," he said in a tweet.

The dynamism & dedication with which our scientists & @isro have worked over the years is exceptional and very inspiring," the Prime Minister said. — PTI