Space shuttle makes first test flight

Sriharikota: India on Monday successfully tested its home-grown winged reusable launch vehicle (RLV), demonstrating its space technology prowess and joining an elite club of space-faring nations like the US, Russia and France.

"We have successfully tested the first delta-winged-body aerospace vehicle operating in hypersonic flight regime," the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement after accomplishing the mission as a technology demonstrator (RLV-TD).

"We have successfully accomplished the RLV-TD mission. The lift-off was at 7 a.m. from the first launch pad here," ISRO director Devi Prasad Karnik said after the shuttle returned to the Earth.

President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Indian scientists. Mukherjee, in a message, said: "Heartiest congratulations to ISRO Team on successful launch of India's first indigenous space shuttle RLV-TD."

Modi said in a tweet: "The dynamism and dedication with which our scientists and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) have worked over the years is exceptional and very inspiring."

Launch of India's first indigenous space shuttle RLV-TD is the result of the industrious efforts of our scientists. Congrats to them.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 23, 2016

The dynamism & dedication with which our scientists & @isro have worked over the years is exceptional and very inspiring.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 23, 2016

Andhra Pradesh, about 80km north of Chennai, off the Bay of Bengal coast.