ISRO successfully tested the core L110 liquid stage of the human-rated GSLV MkIII spacecraft on Wednesday, as part of the Gaganyaan programme's engine qualification requirements, the space agency said in a statement.

The engine was fired for a duration of 240 seconds at the ISRO facility in Tamil Nadu's Mahendragiri.

"The performance of the engine met the test objectives and the engine parameters were closely matching with the predictions during the entire duration of the test," ISRO said.

At the ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC) in Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu, the engine was fired for 240 seconds.

The engine's performance met the test objectives, and the parameters were near to the projections during the test, according to an official statement made by ISRO.

As part of the Gaganyaan programme, four Indian astronaut candidates have previously completed general space flight training in Russia.

Gaganyaan is ISRO's major project of sending humans to space, to a low earth orbit, onboard an Indian vehicle. The first unmanned mission is planned for December 2021 and the second one is scheduled in 2022-23.

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on the successful completion of the third long-duration hot test of the liquid propellant Vikas engine for the Gaganyaan programme, India's first manned space mission.

Replying to ISRO's tweet, the Tesla CEO wrote, "Congratulations!" and also added an Indian flag emoji in his tweet.

Image Source: Hindustan times