India successfully launches 2nd moon mission, aims to become first to probe lunar south pole

India on Monday successfully launched its second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 from its most powerful rocket with a plan to land the rover on September 7 in the unexplored lunar south pole, exactly a week after the liftoff was aborted due to a technical snag.

Carrying a "billion dreams" in a giant leap for the country's ambitious low-cost space programme, the most complex and prestigious mission ever undertaken by the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO), if successful, will also make India the fourth country after Russia, the US and China to pull off a soft landing on the moon.

"We bounced back in flying colours after the earlier technical snag. Success is coming after a call-off," said a beaming and visibly relieved ISRO Chairman K Sivan at the mission control room of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, about 100 km from Chennai, as scientists broke into cheers, shook hands and exchanged greetings.

Sivan, who announced the success of the mission, was addressing the scientists shortly after the towering geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle GSLV-MkIII-M1, dubbed as 'Baahubali', lifted-off from the second launchpad at the spaceport into cloudy skies at 2.43 pm and successfully placed the 3,850-kg Chandrayaan-2 into the earth orbit about 16 minutes later.

The Rs 978-crore unmanned mission also brought woman power to the fore as it was helmed by two woman scientists of the ISRO--Ritu Karidhal and M Vanitha, the Mission and Project directors respectively.

Joined by President Ram Nath Kovind and leaders across the political spectrum, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the scientists and said every Indian is immensely proud today.

In a series of tweets, Modi referred to the indigenous systems used in Chandrayaan-2 and said the mission is "Indian at heart, Indian in spirit!...

"Efforts such as Chandrayaan-2 will further encourage our bright youngsters towards science, top quality research and innovation."
"The work done in the next 24 hours to bring the vehicle back to normal was mind-boggling."