India's lunar mission set for Oct 22 take-off
Bangalore: India's maiden lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 is likely to lift off in the early hours of October 22 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, about 90km from Chennai, a top space agency official said on Monday. "The tentative launch date is October 22 though the window will be kept open till October 26. Depending on the weather, we plan to launch the lunar spacecraft (Chandrayaan) around 6.30 a.m. IST," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) director S. Satish told sources here. The 1,380 kg spacecraft, built at ISRO's satellite centre in this IT hub, will be carried into lunar orbit by a specially designed 320-tonne Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C11), with six strap-on propellants weighing 12 tonnes each. "The formal countdown will begin 50 hours before the launch in the early hours of October 20. All going well and weather permitting, the final countdown will begin hours before the actual launch on October 22," Satish said. The...