INSAT-4C launch fails, GSLV strays off course

After the failure of Agni III missile, India's space programme received a major setback today when the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F02) carrying the Insat-4C communication satellite today veered off from its projected path and crashed into the Bay of Bengal.

ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair, admitting the failure of the mission, said "things have gone wrong in the stage of separation (of the booster from the launch vehicle). We have to analyse the data why it went wrong".

The launch vehicle, carrying the 2168kg satellite deviated from its designated path soon after the lift-off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre here at 1738 hours and disintegrated into a ball of fire.

Soon after the failure of the mission, ISRO officials put the entire system on "emergency condition".

The INSAT-42 launch debacle came a day after the Agni-III nuclear-capable ballistic missile with a range upto 3,500km, failed to hit its target off the coast of Orissa and splashed into the sea.