Isro launches 36 OneWeb satellites in first commercial launch for LMV-3

"Happy Diwali! We started celebrations already at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre," said Sreedhara Panicker Somanath, chairman, Isro

On Sunday, at 12.07 am in Sriharikota, off the coast of the Bay of Bengal, it was almost like an early Diwali, with the sky lit up by the launch of 36 OneWeb satellites. The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) did the launch on a 43.5-metre-tall Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III) rocket.

After the countdown, which started 24 hours in advance, once the mega screen marked the launch, a select group of invitees at the gallery cheered by applauding the feat. The 36 communication satellites were placed on the low-earth orbit as part of the OneWeb India-1