Chandrayaan-2 launch highlights: Isro chief hails historic day for India

Chandrayaan-2 mission: Filling of Liquid Oxygen in cryogenic stage(C25) of GSLV MkIII-M1 Completed. Catch LIVE update's on India's mission to the moon

India successfully launched its second mission to the moon on Monday, a week after a technical snag forced the country's space mission to postpone the attempt.

"We bounced back in flying colours after the earlier technical snag. Success is coming after a hollow," said Kailasavadivoo Sivan, chief of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), about the mission called Chandrayaan-2.

If successful, the mission will allow Isro scientists to carry out studies regarding the presence of water at the moon's south pole, unexplored by any other nation before.

Here are highlights from our live coverage of Chandrayaan-2 launch.

5:12 PM

India joins elite space club

China, Russia and the United States are the only other nations to have sent missions to the moon. If successful, the less-than Rs 1000 crore mission will allow Isro scientists to carry out studies regarding the presence of water at the moon's south pole, unexplored by any other nation before. The space agency suspects the south pole region of the moon contains water in the form of ice as well as craters that could reveal fossilized information about the early solar system, reports Reuters.

4:54 PM

​Short timeline of the Chandrayaan-2 mission:

September 18, 2008 - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approves the Chandrayaan 2 lunar mission

Launch - July ​22, 2019

Landing on the moon - September 6​/7​, 2019

Scientific experiment on moon one lunar day (14 earth days)

Orbital Experiment - Will be operational for one year​

4:18 PM

#Chandrayaan2 is the top Twitter trend in India

4:04 PM

India's space mission aims beyond the Moon

India plans to send a mission to study the sun next year, another to Venus three years later, and eventually establish its own space station. It is also working on a $1.4 billion Gaganyaan mission, which aims to put three Indian “gaganauts” -- at least one of which will be a woman -- into orbit. The nation, which sent an orbiter to Mars at about a 10th of the cost of NASA’s Maven probe, launched a record 104 satellites in 2017, reports Bloomberg.

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3:37 PM

Narendra Modi hails launch of Moon mission

The launch of Chandrayaan-2 illustrates the "prowess" of India's scientists and the "determination" of its citizens, says Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

3:34 PM

'Mantle now with Isro's satellite team'

Isro's satellite team will undertake 15 "crucial maneuvers” on Chandrayaan-2 in the next 1.5 months: Sivan. "The mantle is given to the satellite team."

3:30 PM

Isro burned the midnight oil: Sivan

For the past 1.5 years the satellite team burned the "midnight oil" to realise the launch of Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft: Space mission chief Kailasavadivoo Sivan

3:19 PM

Parliament gets news of Moon mission launch

Speaker Om Birla announces launch of Chandrayaan-2 to the Lok Sabha. Vice president Venkaiah Naidu makes the announcement in the Rajya Sabha.

3:13 PM

Indian flag flies high: Isro

Chandrayaan-2 launch is "excellent". Isro team will make sure Indian flag flies high: Space mission chief Kailasavadivoo Sivan

3:09 PM

Isro chief says launch successful

Isro chief Kailasavadivoo Sivan says Chandrayaan-2 has been launched successfully. "Isro has bounced back with flying colours after serious technical snag,” says Sivan, referring to the last-minute rescheduling of the Moon mission on July 15. 

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