India's Second Moon Mission Chandrayaan-2 Launched Successfully

By FnF Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 22, Jul 2019, 16:06 pm IST | UPDATED: 22, Jul 2019, 16:06 pm IST

Delhi: India's second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 seeking to explore the unchartered Lunar south pole by landing a rover was successfully launched onboard its most powerful rocket GSLV-Mk0III-M1 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on Monday amid cloudy skies,, a week after the lift-off was aborted due to a technical snag. The much-awaited lift-off took place at 2:43 pm.

It injected the 3,850-kg Chandrayaan-2 into Earth orbit, about 16 minutes later, marking the first phase of the ambitious mission that will take about 48 days to land on the moon surface.

On July 15, the launch was called off 56 minutes and 24 seconds before the scheduled blast off at 1.55 am from the spaceport in Sriharikota following a technical problem in the rocket.

“Chandrayaan 2 is ready to take a billion dreams to the Moon — now stronger than ever before! Join us for the launch on Monday — 22 July, 2019 — at 2:43 PM IST,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) tweeted while announcing rescheduled date and time.

The 20-hour countdown for the launch of Chandrayaan-2 began on Sunday evening. ISRO chairman K. Sivan had earlier made an announcement that the countdown for the rocket launch on will start at 6.43 p.m.

The satellite is supposed to explore the uncharted lunar south pole, 11 years after ISRO's successful first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1, which made more than 3,400 orbits around the Moon and was operational for 312 days till August 29, 2009.

Chandrayaan-2 will take 54 days to accomplish the task of landing on the Moon through meticulously planned orbital phases, ISRO has said.

Billed as the most complex and prestigious mission ever undertaken by the ISRO since its inception, Chandrayaan-2 will make India the fourth country to soft land a rover on the lunar surface after Russia, the United States and China.

The average distance of Moon from Earth is 3, 84, 000 km and Vikram lander will land on Moon on the 48th day of the mission which begins today, ISRO tweeted hours before the launch timing.

The glitch during the earlier scheduled take-off had occurred when liquid propellant was being loaded into the rocket's indigenous cryogenic upper stage engine.

Several space scientists had said the space agency must be appreciated for calling off the launch of rather than hurrying into a major disaster.

How to watch: SDSC Centre in Sriharikota had opened registrations to witness the launch from their gallery, which are now closed.

Another option is to watch live-stream on the internet. ISRO will live-stream the launch on its Twitter and Facebbok page. Doordarshan will also live-stream the event on YouTube at 2:10pm. Here is the link:

ISRO will also live-stream the event on YouTube. You can check it here: