President Pranab Mukherjee congratulates ISRO on successful test of RLV-TD
New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday congratulated the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for the successful test of the RLV-TD, here on Monday.
"Hearty congratulations to our space scientists at ISRO on successful launch of India's first-ever indigenous space shuttle RLV-TD," the President said in a tweet.
Heartiest congratulations to ISRO Team on successful launch of India's first indigenous space shuttle RLV-TD #PresidentMukherjee
— President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) May 23, 2016
Echoing similar sentiments, Vice President Hamid Ansari wished ISRO all the best for their future endeavours.
"I offer my congratulations to the Scientists, Engineers and Technicians of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for the successful test of the RLV-TD," the Vice President said in a statement.
Earlier today, heaping praises on the ISRO scientists for the successful launch, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the launch was the result of the industrious efforts by them.
"Launch of India's first indigenous space shuttle RLV-TD is the result of the industrious efforts of our scientists. Congrats to them," Prime Minister Modi tweeted.
He further stated that the dynamism and dedication with which the scientists have worked over the years is exceptional and very inspiring.
India launched its maiden indigenous winged Reusable Launch Vehicle, RLV from Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh today.
The RLV Technology Demonstration (RLV-TD), that is ultimately aimed at putting satellites into orbit around earth and then re-enter atmosphere, was carried up on a solid rocket motor.
The nine-metre long rocket weighs 11 tonnes. Very similar in its looks to the US space shuttle, the double delta-winged RLV-TD being experimented is a scale model which is almost 6 times smaller than the final version.
The 6.5 m long aeroplane like structure weighs 1.75 tonnes and was hoisted into the atmosphere on the special rocket booster.
After launching from the Sriharikota spaceport, it would be glided back onto a virtual runway in the Bay of Bengal.
The vehicle would re-enter the atmosphere after reaching a height of over 70 km.
The mission is known as the hypersonic flight experiment and is expected to last about 10 minutes.
