R-Day parade: Full dress rehearsal of grand cultural performance held at Kartavya Path
New Delhi (PTI): Nearly 2,500 artistes, set to perform at the Kartavya Path here during the 77th Republic Day parade, took part in a full dress rehearsal of their segment on Saturday, officials said.
While a dress rehearsal of the ceremonial parade was held a day ago, the flypast and some sections of the cultural performance could not be held due to inclement weather.
"A group of artists will herald the parade, which was part of the rehearsal held on Friday, but the grand show, with nearly 2,500 artistes representing different dance forms of India, could not held. So, full dress rehearsal for that section was held on Saturday, as it will be a major attraction on January 26," a senior official said.
On Friday, armed forces personnel and artistes took part in the full dress rehearsal, marching down the Kartavya Path amid morning rain, which briefly delayed the proceedings at the ceremonial boulevard.
The main theme of the parade will be '150 years of Vande Mataram'. The broader theme of the performance will be -- 'Swatantra Ka Mantra - Vande Mataram' and 'Samriddhi Ka Mantra - Viksit Bharat', officials said.
The members of the creative team that has worked on it include M M Keeravani as music director, Subhash Sehgal as lyricist, Anupam Kher as narrator, and Santosh Nair as choreographer, under the supervision and direction of Sandhya Purecha. Creative design and costumes has been conceptualised by Sandhya Raman, they said.
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ISRO successfully conducts second integrated air drop test for Gaganyaan mission
New Delhi (PTI): Space agency ISRO has successfully conducted the second integrated air drop test (IADT-02) for the upcoming Gaganyaan mission at the space station in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota.
The system is essential to ensure a safe recovery of the crew module -- the capsule in which astronauts sit during a human flight -- during re-entry and landing.
Union minister Jitendra Singh congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for successfully conducting the test.
"Congratulations #ISRO for the successful accomplishment of Second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) for #Gaganyaan, India's first Human Space flight scheduled next year. The second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) was successfully conducted at Satish Dhawan Space Station Sriharikota," Singh said in a post on X.
The IADT-02 follows the successful completion of the first IADT, which took place on August 24, 2025, at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Air drop tests recreate the last leg of a spacecraft's return to Earth. An aircraft or helicopter drops the spacecraft from a height to test various systems under different scenarios.
These are the deployment of the parachute system in case the mission is aborted mid-flight, system performance when one parachute fails to open and the spacecraft's orientation and safety during splashdown etc.
In the IADT-02 test, a simulated crew module, weighing about 5.7 tonnes, was lifted by an Indian Air Force Chinook helicopter to an altitude of about three kilometres and released over a designated drop zone in the sea, near the Sriharikota coast.
In a statement, the ISRO said, "Ten parachutes of four types were deployed in a precise sequence during the descent of the crew module, gradually reducing the velocity for safe touchdown. Subsequently, the simulated crew module was successfully recovered in coordination with the Indian Navy."
