The Navy’s Eastern Naval Command has recovered the Crew Module that was launched by the ISRO, as part of the Crew Escape System, on a test flight to conduct the Gaganyaan failure test

Hours after the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists successfully conducted the Gaganyaan failure test on Saturday, the Navy’s Eastern Naval Command recovered the Crew Module (CM) from the Bay of Bengal.

ISRO chief S Somanath said the crew module has been fully recovered from the sea and it has been brought to Chennai port.

Notably, the Gaganyaan programme aims to send humans into space on a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) of 400 km for three days and bring them back safely to Earth.


Taking to X, the navy’s spokesperson posted, “The Indian Navy's Eastern Naval Command units recovered the crew module - path paved by extensive planning, training of Naval divers, formulation of SOPs and joint communication by combined teams of Indian Navy & ISRO.”

The Crew Module (CM) is where the astronauts are contained in a pressurised earth-like atmospheric condition during the Gaganyaan mission.

On Saturday, ISRO launched a liquid-propelled single-stage Test Vehicle (TV-D1) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on a brief flight carrying a homegrown system named -- Crew Escape System.

Crew Escape System is a system that operates automatically, and ensures swift ejection of the crew to minimise potential risks during the tumultuous early phases of ascent.

After the launch, ISRO chief S Somnath declared the mission complete and the objectives achieved.

"I am very happy to announce the successful accomplishment of the TV-D1 mission. The purpose of the mission was to demonstrate the crew escape system for the Gaganyaan programme through a test vehicle demonstration in which the vehicle has gone up to Mach 1 and above, which is the speed of sound and initiated an abort condition for the CES to function," a beaming Somanath said from the MCC. Mach 1 is equal to about 1,200 km per hour.