Indian rocket launch delayed three minutes to avoid space debris

The Monday morning blast off of an Indian rocket carrying five foreign satellites has been delayed by three minutes to avoid a collision with space debris, the space agency said.

According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) has given its nod for its expendable rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle's (PSLV) flight Monday morning at 9.52 a.m.

The rocket will take off from ISRO's rocket port at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, around 80 km from here.

With this, India is all set to put into space five foreign satellites from four countries.

The rocket's main luggage will be the 714-kg French earth observation satellite SPOT-7. The other satellites are: 14-kg AISAT of Germany; NLS7.1 (CAN-X4) and NLS7.2 (CAN-X5) from Canada each weighing 15 kg; and the 7-kg VELOX-1 of Singapore.

The five satellites are being launched under commercial arrangements that Antrix Corporation has entered into with the respective foreign agencies.

According to ISRO, the 49 hour countdown for the launch will begin Saturday morning.