India’s GSLV Mk III launch vehicle is currently under development and the first flight test is currently planned to take place around December 2012. The three stage vehicle used on the first flight will carry a passive cryogenic upper stage. This test will be a sub-orbital flight and will only test the first two stages of the vehicle.
The earlier Mk I and Mk II variants of the GSLV have a miserable track record. According to the Ascend Space Review the Mk I and Mk II have been launched seven times with five of those flights failing and gives the vehicle an overall failure rate of 71.43%. (See the graph below from Ascend Space Review). We wish them luck with the Mk III.
