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GSLV launch boost to Chandrayaan

With two successful developmental flights behind it, the GSLV Mk-III was declared operational.

Sriharikota: In a major boost to its proposed Chandrayaan-II mission and the human flight programme, the Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launched its heaviest rocket into space on Wednesday evening.

The 641-tonne Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk-III rocket, Isro’s fifth generation launch vehicle, carried the GSAT-29, an advanced communication satellite, into space from the spaceport at the Sriharikota centre.

With two successful developmental flights behind it, the GSLV Mk-III was declared operational.

Isro chairman K. Sivan said the GSLV MK-III’s first operational mission would be “none other than Chandrayaan” in January 2019. “This fantastic vehicle is going to carry humans to space in three years from now,” he said.

The rocket can carry 4,000-kg satellites. The GSAT-20, meant to provide communications to remote areas in the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir, weighed 3,423 kg.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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