The 49 m tall GSLV, with a lift-off mass of 415 tonne, is a three-stage vehicle with solid, liquid and cryogenic stages. The first stage of GSLV, one of the largest in the world, uses Hydroxyl Terminated Polybutadiene (HTPB) based propellant. The second stage and the four strap-on motors surrounding the first stage use liquid propellant 'Vikas' engine burning UH25 and Nitrogen Tetraoxide. The third stage is a cryogenic stage using liquid Hydrogen as fuel and liquid Oxygen as oxidiser. GSLV employs S-band telemetry and C-band transponders for enabling vehicle performance monitoring, tracking, range safety / flight safety and Preliminary Orbit Determination.

The payload fairing, which is 7.8 m long and 3.4 m in diameter, protects the vehicle electronics and the spacecraft during its ascent through the atmosphere It is discarded when the vehicle reaches an altitude of about 115 km.

The Redundant Strap Down Inertial Navigation System/Inertial Guidance System of GSLV housed in its equipment bay guides the vehicle from lift-off to spacecraft injection. The digital auto-pilot and closed loop guidance scheme ensure the required attitude manoeuvre and guide injection of the spacecraft to the specified orbit.

GSLV-F04 was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota, the spaceport of India. GSLV became operational after two developmental flights when it successfully launched GSAT-1 and GSAT-2 in 2001 and 2003 respectively. In its first operational flight in September 2004, GSLV launched EDUSAT - India's first dedicated satellite for educational services. However, the second operational flight, GSlV-F02, conducted on July 10, 2006 did not succeeding placing the satellite INSAT-4C into orbit.