More images of India’s first indigenous space shuttle. The Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator was launched at 7am IST Monday, May 23, from the First Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.
The 21.3-foot long, 1.75-ton RLV-TD was used on the HEX-1 flight, which tested hypersonic reentry profiles for reusable, winged spacecraft. Seeing its first use since the late 1980′s, the first stage of India’s first-ever rocket, the SLV-3, was used to boost the vehicle to an altitude of 65 kilometers.
Total mission elapsed time from launch to landing was 12 minutes, and the RLV-TD achieved a maximum speed of around Mach 5.
Check out our introductory story on the RLV-TD/HEX-1 mission here.
Launch photos and story can be seen here!