NEW DELHI, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Thursday successfully conducted a test of crew escape system, a necessity for human space flight, officials said.
The test was described as a "major technology demonstration" by officials at ISRO.
"ISRO carried out a major technology demonstration today, the first in a series of tests to qualify a crew escape system, which is a critical technology relevant for human spaceflight," a spokesman at the department of space said.
"The crew escape system is an emergency escape measure designed to quickly pull the crew module along with the astronauts to a safe distance from the launch vehicle in the event of a launch abort."
The first test (pad abort test) demonstrated the safe recovery of the crew module in case of any exigency at the launch pad, officials said.
The test was carried out Thursday at 7:00 a.m. (local time) at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, a barrier island off the Bay of Bengal coast in southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
ISRO said the crew module with a mass of 12.6 tonnes reached an altitude of nearly 2.7 km under the power of its seven specifically designed quick acting solid motors to take away the crew module to a safe distance without exceeding the safe g-levels.
"Nearly 300 sensors recorded various mission performance parameters during the test flight," officials said.
