The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) D6 which carried India’s latest communication satellite GSAT-6.
The 29-hour countdown for this launch began at 11.52 am on Wednesday after the Mission Readiness Review (MRR) committee and Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) cleared the starting of the countdown. The launch itself took place at 4.52 pm on Thursday from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at the spaceport of Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
After the launch, ISRO scientists at the mission control centre in Sriharikota watched their monitors intently to see the rocket’s progress.
The feat is the second one for the ISRO scientists in using the indigenously made cryogenic stage after the 5 January, 2014 launch of GSLV-D5.
The earlier one had propelled India into an elite group of countries boasting of the homegrown complex cryogenic engine and stage after twin failures in 2010. ISRO is the sixth space agency in the world after those of US, Russia, Japan, China and France to have joined the indigenous cryogenic regime, which is crucial for launch of heavier satellites weighing more than two tonnes.
Describing the successful launch as a “Onam gift”, Mission Director R Umamaheswaran said the ‘naughty boy’ (cryogenic stage) has now been transformed into the ‘most adored boy of the ISRO’.
“ISRO has offered an Onam gift… a reliable launch vehicle with our own Made in India cryogenic stage… which can launch 2-2.5 tonne class satellites,” he said.
“We have demonstrated what happened in January 2014 was no fluke, it was a result of tremendous effort put in by the entire team for the indigenous cryogenic stage… various intricacies of cryogenic have been understood,” a jubilant ISRO Chairman AS Kiran Kumar said.
PM Modi congratulated the ISRO team, terming the launch as a “phenomenal accomplishment”.