India's Chandrayaan-3 moon mission takes off with a successful launch as rocket hoists lunar lander and rover
CBSN
New Delhi — Scientists with India's space program erupted with joy on Friday as a massive rocket lifted off with a bang and tore through the clouds, carrying an unmanned spacecraft on a mission to land on the dark side of the moon. A LVM3-M4 heavy-lift rocket carried the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, with its lunar lander and small rover, away from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, southern India, at 2:35 p.m. local time on Friday without a hitch.
It was a "text-book launch" as the rocket successfully delivered Chandrayaan-3 into orbit, scientists from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said.
Chandrayaan-3 is the country's third lunar exploration mission and scientists are hoping for a soft landing near the moon's little-explored south pole in the months ahead.
