Gaganyaan mission: ISRO reports test vehicle fails to lift off as anomaly hits

Sriharikota: S Somanath, the chief of ISRO, stated that an anomaly that will be analysed prevented the test spacecraft carrying crew safety-related payloads for the very ambitious Gaganyaan human space flight mission from taking off as scheduled on Saturday.

The TV-D1 rocket's engine did not ignite in the course of time.

Despite a "hold" signal flashing on the Satish Dhawan Space Centre screens during the final countdown, the rocket failed to liftoff at 8.45 a.m. from the spaceport here after two delays totalling 45 minutes.

After suffering delays twice, totalling 45 minutes, the rocket failed to liftoff from the spaceport here at 8.45 am, even as a "hold" signal flashed across the screens at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre while the final countdown was on, PTI reported.

There was a very smooth airlift and automatic launch sequence leading up to the command to lift off, "but the engine ignition has not happened in the nominal course due to anomaly," Somanath said soon after the mission was put on hold.

"And we have to find out what went wrong with that. The vehicle is safe, the entire vehicle is very safe. We will have to reach the vehicle and then look at what has happened now," he said, adding that ISRO will come back soon after analysing what triggered the automatic launch sequence holding the vehicle.

"So what has happened is that the ground support computer doing this function has withheld the launch in view of the anomaly observed. We will come back after understanding the anomaly, correct it and schedule the launch very soon," the space agency's Chairman said from the Mission Control Center.

The revised launch schedule will be announced later after analysing what went wrong today, he added.