India's mini space shuttle blasts off

The shuttle, about one sixth the size of a usual one, was meant to reach an altitude of 70 km before gliding back down


Afp May 23, 2016
Weather and wind speeds permitting, an almost 11-ton rocket will lift off from rocket port Sriharikota tomorrow morning — the first time India is launching an indigenous Reusable Launch Vehicle. PHOTO: REUTERS.

BANGALORE: India successfully launched its first model space shuttle on Monday, a top official said, as New Delhi joined the race to develop a reusable rocket to make space travel easier and cheaper.

The winged shuttle blasted off on a rocket from the southeastern spaceport of Sriharikota at about 7:00am (0130 GMT), with television footage showing it streaming through a clear sky.

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The shuttle, about one sixth the size of a normal one, was meant to reach an altitude of 70 kilometres (43 miles) before gliding back down and splashing into the Bay of Bengal 10 minutes later.

"The lift-off was at 7am from the first launch pad here," India's space chief Devi Prasad Karnik told AFP.

"We have successfully accomplished the RLV mission as a technology demonstrator," he said.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), known for its low costs, has developed the winged shuttle called the Reusable Launch Vehicle or RLV-TD reportedly on a miniscule budget of one billion rupees ($14 million).

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Monday's test mission was a crucial step towards eventually developing a full-scale, reusable shuttle to send up satellites in the future.

India faces stiff competition including from global companies which are developing their own reusable rockets after NASA retired its space shuttle programme in 2011.

Reusable rockets would cut costs and waste in the space industry, which currently loses millions of dollars in jettisoned machinery after each launch.

Billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX and Amazon owner Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin have already successfully undertaken their own test launches.

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But ISRO hopes to develop its own frugal shuttle, as it seeks to cash in on a huge and lucrative demand from other countries to send up their satellites.

ISRO made global headlines in 2013 after it successfully launched an unmanned mission to orbit Mars, spending just $73 million. NASA had spent $671 million on its Maven Mars mission.

COMMENTS (55)

Abid | 7 years ago | Reply @cbing: My source precedes Wikipedia some what. My uncle was a technician working under WJM Turowicz. He told us in the 80's about the launches that they had worked on. It may surprise you but a lot of Pakistani trained in NASA in the 60's. Many of whom went on to work at NASA itself.
cbing | 7 years ago | Reply @Abid: Wikipedia is your source? I can literally edit SUPARCO is the first to land man on moon in 1947 in Wikipedia. Wikipedia is based on user contributions. And every major article is updated regularly with sources verified by moderators. Not to be mean, but I don't think any moderator is interested enough to check out SUPARCO wiki article, and correct the errors.
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