The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Monday successfully launched Chandrayaan-2, India's historic mission to the moon at its scheduled time of 2:43 PM. ISRO called its lift-off perfect, and its chief K Sivan said the launch was the beginning of India's historic journey to the moon.
Chandrayaan-2 comes 11 years after ISRO's successful first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 which scripted history by making more than 3,400 orbits around the Moon and was operational for 312 days till August 29, 2009.
Watch the launch here:
Below are the live updates:
3: 45PM: President Ramnath Kovind congratulated scientists and engineers on ISRO's successful "historic" launch of Chandrayaan 2 and said that the mission will lead to new "knowledge" and "discoveries."
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3:25PM: Prime Minister Narendra Modi applauded the entire team of ISRO for their successful Chandrayaan-2 mission.
3:14 PM: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has congratulated the entire team of ISRO for the successful launch of Chandryaan-2.
3:12 PM: GSLV-MkIII-M1 successfully places Chandrayaan-2 into Earth orbit, says ISRO.
3:06 PM: Today is a historic day for space and science and technology in India, says ISRO chairman K Sivan.
3:04 pm: ISRO Chairman Kailasavadivoo Sivan is currently addressing the nation on the successful launch of Chandryaan-2. "It is the beginning of India's successful journey to the moon, he said.
2:52 PM: Chandryaan 2, India's historic moon mission, lifts off; ISRO says 'perfect lift-off'.
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2:43 PM: Chandryaan-2 lifts off.
2:30 PM: Mission Director has authorized the launch of Chandrayaan-2, reports ANI.
2:12 PM: Less than an hour to go.
1:57pm: Meanwhile, as ISRO gears up for the launch of Chandrayaan-2, locals in Kanpur on Monday morning offered prayers at a temple for the mission's success.
1:44pm: Filling of Liquid Hydrogen in Cryogenic Stage(C25) of GSLVMkIII-M1 completed.
1:20pm: Did You Know? The average distance of Moon from Earth is 3, 84, 000 km. Vikram lander will land on Moon on the 48th day of the mission launch.
1:10pm: Filling of Liquid Oxygen in Cryogenic Stage completed and filling of Liquid Hydrogen in progress.
12:55pm: About 16-minutes into its flight, the Rs 375-crore GSLV-Mk III rocket is expected to sling the Rs 603-crore Chandrayaan-2 into its 170x39,120-km orbit.
12:50pm: The ISRO later rectified the fault in its 44-metre Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV-Mk III). Weighing about 640-tonne, the GSLV-Mk III rocket is nicknamed 'Bahubali' after the hero of a successful film of the same name.
12:45pm: The GSLV-Mk III rocket with Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was originally scheduled for flight at 2.51 a.m. on July 15. However, the flight was postponed after a technical snag was detected an hour prior to the rocket lift-off.
