India launches space capsule, satellites

New Delhi - India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), carrying four satellites including a space capsule, lifted off successfully from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in southern Andhra Pradesh state Wednesday, officials said. The mission, costing 3 billion rupees (67 million US dollars), is an important step towards India's plan to send an unmanned mission to the moon in 2008. The successful launch was a boost for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), after the botched flight of its Geostationary Launch Vehicle in July 2006. 'We have done it successfully. We have put all four satellites into the required orbit. It was a textbook mission,' ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair said after the launch. The satellites put into orbit included the 56-kilogram Indonesian LAPAN-TUBSAT and the 6-kilo Argentinian PEHUENSAT 1. India's payloads comprised the 680-kilo CARTOSAT 2, a sophisticated mapping satellite, and a 550-kilo Space Capsule Recovery Experiment. The space capsule is an important first step in testing recovery and re-entry techniques in context of the planned moon mission, officials said. The capsule will be brought back after 15-30 days' orbit round the earth and is expected to fall somewhere in the Bay of Bengal off India's eastern coast and will be recovered by the Indian navy. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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