India to test human crew space module

The long-awaited Indian manned space fight will face its first challenge in April when a more powerful version of the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV) will carry a human crew module into space to check if the module is capable of re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere safely.

The Indian Space Research Organisation had developed specialised space travel chamb­ers covered with an indigenous heat-resistant tile to carry human crew to space. When GSLV Mk-III will be tested in three months' time, the heavy-d­uty rocket will fly the module to an altitude of about 120 km to see if it is safe for human flight. “GSLV Mk-III will carry the cr­ew module to study re-entry and thermal behaviour,” said Isro chairman K Radhakrishn­an here on Friday. When fully ready, GSLV Mk-III can carry a pa­yload of 6-10 tonne class cate­g­ory and take an Indian into space.