Earlier today, India headed to visit the surface of the moon. For the first time in history, India’s space agency, ISRO, launched the Chandrayaan 2. The space rocket launched this morning, Monday, 22nd July 2019, at 2:43 pm India Time, which was 10:13 am in Nigeria.
***Plat4om giveaway: Check the picture at the end for a surprise.***
The Chandrayaan-2 mission blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in India. The unscrewed lunar lander is a 142-feet-tall rocket heading to the south pole of the moon. It is a huge relief to India that this rocket has finally launched.
Indian rocket scientist had to call off the launch during their first attempt last week. It had only been less than an hour before liftoff when they found a technical problem which caused them to abort the mission. They later revealed that it was the helium tanks on the top of the rocket that lost pressure.
But everything seemed to be in order ahead of this launch today. India set to land a remote-controlled space rocket on the lunar surface. It will then launch a six-wheeled rover from the lander that will explore the moon.
A spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organisation, Vivek Singh, was in high spirits following the launch. He said, “The low-pressure issue got corrected. The mood is perfect. You know, in space missions, you can’t go with 99% confidence. You should have 100% confidence.”
The Chandrayaan 2 Mission
If this launch goes as expected, India will be the fourth country to land on the moon. It will come behind the United States who is celebrating 50 years of landing on the moon. Russia and China also launched before now. The giant leap is a huge deal for the Asian county, and the whole world is watching to see how it goes.
The Asian country is known for providing one of the best brains in mathematics and science. This will be an amazing dream, especially for young children in India with ambitions of visiting the moon. India’s launch naturally drew a large crowd, and space enthusiasts gathered at the gates to witness the historical event.
For some years now, India has actually been planning a mission. They were going to work with Russia on a joint space venture. However, the plans fell through when Russia decided to back out because of some issues with its space program.
According to The New York Times, the mission includes a giant Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, a lander, an orbiter and a small rover. The mission also reportedly costs less than $150 million and will take longer than the Apollo missions. NASA’s mission apparently cost way more because it was a manned craft.
