India has just registered a giant leap in space technology as it successfully launched, hours ago, an unmanned spacecraft to the far side of the moon using homegrown technology.
The rocket lifted off in clear weather as scheduled at 2:43 p.m. (local time), a week after aborting the mission due to a technical problem.
K. Sivan, head of the Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, said the rocket successfully injected the spacecraft, named Chandrayaan-2, into orbit.
Chandrayaan-2, the Sanskrit word for "moon craft", is scheduled to touch down on the land of the lunar south pole in September 6 or 7.
The $141 million mission will analyze minerals, map the moon's surface and search for water. In particular, it is expected to send a rover to explore water deposits that were confirmed by a previous mission that orbited the moon.
India's first moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, orbited the moon in 2008 and helped confirm the presence of water. The country plans to send its first manned spaceflight by 2022.
The spacecraft is carrying an orbiter, a lander and a rover that will move around on the lunar surface for 14 earth days.
India put a satellite into orbit around Mars in the nation's first interplanetary mission in 2013 and 2014.
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