TEHRAN (Tasnim) – India launched a bid to become a leading space power Monday, sending up a rocket to put a craft on the surface of the Moon in what it called a “historic day” for the nation.

Chandrayaan-2 — or Moon Chariot 2 — took off on time at 2.43pm (0913 GMT) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on an island off the coast of Andhra Pradesh state.

Applause broke out in the mission control room as the rocket blasted off into the grey skies over the Indian Ocean and mission control announced that the orbiter had broken away from the rocket with no problem.

“Today is a historic day for space, science and tech in India,” Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) chief K. Sivan said.

The launch came a week after a fuel leak forced a previous attempt to be scrubbed 56 minutes before the scheduled blast-off.

Full story: tasnimnews.com

Tasnim News Agency