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INDIA-MISSION-MOON
India’s moon mission Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft’s second launch attempt today
By Aminul Islam Mirja
NEW DELHI, July 22, 2019 (BSS) – In its second attempt, the Chandrayaan-2
spacecraft, India’s mission to the moon, is scheduled to be launched at 2:43
pm this afternoon from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, media reports said
here.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) rescheduled the launching
time as the mission was aborted just before lift-off a week before.
The 20-hour countdown for the launch of the Rs. 1,000-crore mission began
at 6.43 pm on Sunday and the countdown is progressing normally, media reports
added.
Similar time slots for launch attempts will be available till July 31, say
scientists, after which a window will be available only in September.
The ISRO in a tweet message said it had completed the filling of UH25 fuel
in the liquid core stage of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark
3 (GSLV Mk 3) rocket, nicknamed ‘Baahubali’.
The weather looks benign with a slightly cloudy sky. Rockets usually do not
get affected by rain but lightening could be an issue. As of now all systems
are set for the 2.43 pm lift off, ISRO sources said.
Chandrayaan-2 will make India the fourth country after the United States of
America, the erstwhile Soviet Union and China to land on the lunar surface.
This will also be the first space mission to rove on the south pole of the
moon looking for water, ice and cold traps that could preserve the history of
solar system.
At least 7,500 people will witness the launch of the mission from
Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, the Hindustan times reported.
BSS/AIM/GMR/1216 hrs