"ten, nine, eight..."
In the curry-scented English of Bangalore's ISRO testing center, a desolate piece of wasteland suddenly burst with orange-yellow flames shooting from a triangular structure that boasted a round, conic tip and a long "needle." The structure, dragging a white object, soared into the sky.
This was the ground-level, zero-altitude test of the Gagan Yang spacecraft's escape tower, the first safety assurance when the spacecraft was launched into the atmosphere.
The structure of the Gagan Yang spacecraft's escape tower was simple, consisting of several small solid rockets set at an angle, covered with a streamlined fairing.
If the rocket encountered any unexpected issues during flight, the escape tower would immediately force the spacecraft to detach from the rocket and fly to a safe distance, and then separate to allow the spacecraft to descend with parachutes.
This was an essential safeguard for the astronauts' lives and comparatively one of the "easier" parts.
