Gaganyaan's Escape System Passed Its First Flight Test on 21 October 2023, and Two Chinook Drops Have Since Validated the Parachutes Ahead of the Uncrewed G1 Flight

On 21 October 2023 ISRO flew the first Gaganyaan test vehicle from Sriharikota, and the Crew Escape System, the rocket-powered rig meant to pull astronauts clear of a failing launch, performed as intended, according to the agency’s mission page. The capsule it carried, an unpressurised crew module of 4,520 kilograms, was taken to about 17 kilometres, came down under ten parachutes and was recovered from the sea by the Indian Navy.

Two drops from an Indian Air Force Chinook helicopter have followed, on 24 August 2025 and 10 April 2026, and ISRO says both validated the parachute system. The second used a dummy module of about 5.7 tonnes, which ISRO gives as the mass of the crew module on G1, the first uncrewed Gaganyaan flight. G1 has not launched as of 10 October 2026. The Department of Space told the Rajya Sabha on 6 August 2026 that it is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026.

What each test is there to prove

ISRO’s Gaganyaan page lists three kinds of precursor flight: Integrated Air Drop Tests (IADT), Pad Abort Tests (PAT) and Test Vehicle (TV) flights. It says that “Safety and reliability of all systems will be proven in unmanned missions preceding manned mission.” The eventual crewed flight is meant to carry three people to 400 kilometres for three days and land them in Indian waters.

When TV-D1 flew, the space minister, Dr Jitendra Singh, said it tested the mechanism that lets a crew escape if a mission is aborted, and that it would set the stage for the remaining qualification tests and unmanned missions. The people who will eventually ride the vehicle are covered in our piece on India’s Gaganyaan astronauts.

TV-D1: the flight of 21 October 2023

The test vehicle was a single-stage liquid-fuelled rocket built around a modified Vikas engine, 34.954 metres long and 44 tonnes at lift-off, with the crew module and the escape system mounted at its front end. The escape system uses five types of quick-acting solid motors, according to ISRO’s brochure for the flight.

The mission profile on ISRO’s page puts the abort at Mach 1.2 (1.2 times the speed of sound) and 11.7 kilometres. The crew module separates from the escape system at 17 kilometres, a drogue parachute opens at 16.7 kilometres, and the main parachutes open below 2.5 kilometres. The nominal touchdown speed is 8.5 metres a second. Before the flight, ISRO’s brochure says, the parachutes went through 12 rocket-sled qualification tests at a range in Chandigarh and four air drops of main parachutes from AN-32 and Il-76 aircraft at Agra and Jhansi.

The launch did not go smoothly at first. Lift-off was set for 8:00 am on 21 October. Weather cost 45 minutes, and the automated sequence then stopped the countdown at five seconds before lift-off. ISRO chairman S. Somanath called the cause a “monitoring anomaly” that was quickly fixed, SpacePolicyOnline reported, and the vehicle left the pad at 10:00. The PIB release of that day says the exercise was “accomplished as expected.” The Indian Navy recovered the module from the sea.

The flight had been planned for August or September 2023, according to a PIB release of 3 August 2023. Singh announced the 21 October date on 10 October 2023.

Two drops from a Chinook, 24 August 2025 and 10 April 2026

The first Integrated Air Drop Test, IADT-01, took place at Sriharikota on 24 August 2025. A Chinook lifted a simulated crew module of about 4.8 tonnes to roughly 3 kilometres and released it. Ten parachutes of four types opened in sequence: two small ones to pull the detached apex cover away, two drogues, three pilot parachutes and three mains, each main 25 metres across. The module’s speed fell to about 8 metres a second at touchdown. ISRO says the test simulated an abort on the launch pad, and the Navy ship INS Anvesha carried the module to Chennai port.

ISRO ran trial sorties with dummy hardware first, and a Test Authorisation Board cleared the real test. DRDO, the Air Force, the Navy and the Coast Guard contributed alongside ISRO’s own centres.

IADT-02 followed on 10 April 2026 with a 5.7-tonne module, the same 3-kilometre release height and the same ten parachutes. The module fell into the sea near Sriharikota and was recovered with the Navy. ISRO’s account calls the test a step toward readiness for G1.

TV-D2, the next test vehicle flight

TV-D2 has not flown as of 10 October 2026. A parliamentary reply of 7 August 2025 had listed it for the third quarter of 2025, with G1 in the fourth quarter of 2025 and G2 and G3 in 2026. The replies of August 2026 say activities toward it are in progress, and DD India’s report of the minister’s written reply on 29 July 2026 describes preparations as at an advanced stage. None of these documents gives a TV-D2 date or describes its flight profile.

The same July reply, as DD India reported it, says all three stages of the HLVM3 launch vehicle (HS200, L110 and C32) and the escape motors are ready, and that assembly and testing of the crew and service modules are nearing completion. By 6 August 2026, the PIB release says, the programme’s mission control centre, crew training facility and orbital module preparation facility were in place.

G1 and the robot in the crew seat

G1 is the first of three uncrewed flights. The PIB release of 6 August 2026 calls it an experimental mission “to validate technologies being developed for the first time” in the programme. It is to carry Vyommitra, a half-humanoid robot. The Week describes it as a female-form robot with no legs that speaks Hindi and English, monitors temperature, pressure, humidity and carbon dioxide inside the module, issues alerts and carries out life-support operations. Its name joins the Sanskrit words for space and friend. The Tribune reported in August 2025 that Chairman V. Narayanan gave the same duties: monitoring module parameters, issuing alerts and running life-support operations.

Two more uncrewed flights, in the configuration of the first crewed flight, are targeted by 2027, the August 2026 release says. Narayanan told ETV Bharat on 11 September 2026 that the second would go six months after the first and the third six months after that. The same report says ISRO ran a flight acceptance hot test on 9 September of the upgraded CE20 cryogenic engine, which it presents as part of Gaganyaan preparations.

How the G1 target has moved

The date given for the first uncrewed flight has changed with each official statement:

• 10 October 2023: Singh said a test flight carrying Vyommitra would come “next year”, meaning 2024.
• 7 August 2025: a parliamentary reply listed G1 for the fourth quarter of 2025.
• 23 October 2025: Narayanan said G1 was set for the first week of December and about 90 percent complete, News On AIR reported.
• 6 August 2026: the Rajya Sabha was told the fourth quarter of 2026.
• 11 September 2026: Narayanan said the end of December.
• 5 October 2026: Narayanan Appu, director of the ISRO Propulsion Complex at Mahendragiri, said the first uncrewed test was planned by the end of this year, according to the Times of India.

None of these is a launch notice. The Tribune reported in August 2025 that ISRO had completed more than 7,700 ground tests and planned over 2,300 more before March 2026.

What comes after the uncrewed flights

The crewed date is also stated differently by different officials. The PIB’s 5 August 2026 parliamentary answer says the first crewed mission is targeted in 2027. Narayanan told ETV Bharat that humans would fly in December 2027 or early 2028, and Appu said on 5 October 2026 that human spaceflight was targeted for mid-2028.

A separate flight, Shubhanshu Shukla’s Axiom-4 mission, is covered in our article on it. The longer plan is the space station described in our piece on the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, whose first module Appu said is expected to launch by the end of 2028.