Could Be Used To Put Manned, Unmanned Vehicles In High Orbit

India says it's test-fired a rocket motor fueled solely by hyper-cooled liquid fuel, giving it the capability to boost space vehicles just about anywhere they want to go, from high Earth orbit to the moon.

It can also be used to fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The Indian Space Research Organization issued a statement Friday, saying it had fired its liquid-fueled rocket motor for a total of 17-minutes. That's about five minutes more than needed for an average flight into high orbit.

The liquid hydrogen-oxygen mix can be used to lift a 2.5 ton payload into geosynchronous orbit.

Only a very select number of countries have been able to use rockets powered by supercooled liquid fuel. Russia, France and the US are among them.

"It is a great milestone. I was never in doubt it would happen, and I am happy it has happened now," said Rakesh Sharma, India's first man in space. In 1984, he traveled aboard a Russian spacecraft. He said the development of supercooled liquid boosters is crucial to India's plan for putting a man on the moon before 2015.

FMI: www.isro.org