BENGALURU: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday successfully carried out a flight test for a newly-designed Crew Escape System, meant for saving lives of astronauts in an exigency. The space agency said it was the first in a series of tests to ascertain the trustworthiness and efficiency of the Crew Escape System.The system is an emergency measure designed to quickly pull away the crew module along with the astronauts to a safe distance from the launch vehicle if the mission gets aborted. The first ‘Pad Abort Test’ demonstrated the safe recovery of the crew module in case of any exigency at the launch pad, the Indian Space Research Organisation said in a release.After a smooth five-hour countdown, the Crew Escape System along with the simulated crew module lifted off at 7 am from its pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on Thursday, said the ISRO. The test was over in 259 seconds, during which the Escape System and the module soared skyward, before arching out over the Bay of Bengal and floating back to earth using its parachutes, about 2.9 km from Sriharikota. PTI

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