CARE (Demo Flight)

The CARE is a mock-up of the planned Indian crewed space capsule. Its mission is to study re-entry and thermal behaviour. CARE does not have the pressure-vessel of the final capsule, but is only a structural mock-up. It will re-enter and land in the bay of Bengal to be retrieved. For the suborbital flight, it is mounted upside-down inside the payload fairing. This launch uses a non-functional 2nd stage. CARE separates from the launch vehicle after 1st stage shutdown.