ISRO Successfully Launches GSLV Mark III with Crew Module

18^th Dec 2014 is indeed a great day for the Nation. This morning I started from home accompanying a Press Photographer friend who took me to Sriharikota, in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. This place is in Nellore Dist, separates Pulicat lake from Bay of Bengal.  The nearest town and railway station is Sullurpeta. Hundreds of people were making a beeline towards the coast to watch a great event. At 09.30 am, ISRO successfully tested its most powerful satellite launch vehicle that can put heavier payloads into space.  Once operational, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III will be able to put satellites weighing about 4 tonnes into orbit, almost doubling India's current capability. The experiment  today helped ISRO test the vehicle's atmospheric stability and its design. It was powered by two engines while a third is under development. launch of GSLV - photo credits : www.isro.org
The Press Release of ISRO reads :  ** The first experimental flight (GSLV Mk-III X/CARE) of India's next generation launch vehicle GSLV Mk-III was successfully conducted today (December 18, 2014) morning from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. Also known as LVM3-X/CARE, this suborbital experimental mission was intended to test the vehicle performance during the critical atmospheric phase of its flight and thus carried a passive (non-functional) cryogenic upper stage. The mission began with the launch of GSLV Mk-III at 9:30 am IST from the Second Launch Pad as scheduled and about five and a half minutes later, carried its payload - the 3775 kg Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE) - to the intended height of 126 km. Following this, CARE separated from the upper stage of GSLV Mk-III and re-entered the atmosphere and safely landed over Bay of Bengal with the help of its parachutes about 20 minutes 43 seconds after lift-off.   Two massive S-200 solid strap-on boosters, each carrying 207 tons of solid propellants, ignited at vehicle lift-off and after functioning normally, separated 153.5 seconds later. L110 liquid stage ignited 120 seconds after lift-off, while S200s were still functioning, and carried forward for the next 204.6 seconds.  CARE separated from the passive C25 cryogenic upper stage, successfully reentered the atmosphere and gently landed over Andaman Sea about 1600 km from Sriharikota, there by successfully concluding the GSLV Mk-III X/CARE mission. ** Really happy day for the Nation, heralding newer things in the sky ! With regards – S. Sampathkumar
18^th Dec 2014.