India is ready for another big step in its space exploration journey.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is getting ready for the first of multiple test flights ahead of its Gaganyaan mission. Union Science and Technology Minister, Jitendra Singh, has officially announced that this important test flight is scheduled for October 21.

The test will be conducted at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota and is intended to test the ‘crew module ’ or the part of vehicle where the Indian astronauts will be housed.

The test involves launching the module to outer space and bringing it back to earth and recovering it after touchdown in the Bay of Bengal.

The Navy personnel have already started mock operations to recover the module, said Mr. Singh. Along with the crew module, there will also be a ‘crew escape’ system. If the spacecraft while ascending into space faces a problem, this escape system is expected to separate and bring the crew safely back to sea from where they will be picked by the Navy personnel.

In the first of this tests called, Test Vehicle Abort Mission (TV-D1), the module will be identical to the one deployed to space, except that it will be ‘unpressurised.’

The success of this test will set the stage for the first unmanned “Gaganyaan” mission and ultimately manned mission to outer space in low earth orbit, said Mr. Singh. “Before the ultimate manned “Gaganyaan” mission, there will be a test flight next year, which will carry “Vyommitra”, the female robot astronaut,” he added.