NEW DELHI (AP) - An Indian
space capsule splashed down in the Bay of Bengal on Monday, giving engineers a
chance to test technology needed to return astronauts to Earth, an official
said.
The capsule orbited earth
for 11 days before re-entering the atmosphere, S. Krishnamurthy, a spokesman
for the Indian Space Research Organization, told The Associated Press.
The 550-kilogram
(1,210-pound) Space-Capsule Recovery Experiment was intended to test the
organization's ability to track and recover a returning space capsule, he said
[image].
Recovery efforts were
underway, he said.
An Indian-developed Polar
Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C7, took
off on Jan. 10 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota in the
southern state of Andhra Pradesh, and successfully deployed three satellites in
addition to the space capsule - India's CARTOSAT-2,
Indonesia's LAPAN-TUBSAT and Argentina's PEHUENSAT-1 - into a 635-kilometer
(395-mile) high polar orbit, a statement said [image].
India has not announced specific plans
for a manned space mission, but an unmanned moon
mission is scheduled for 2008.
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