Rocket blasts off with India's first space observatory

A rocket, carrying seven satellites, including India's first space observatory, blasted off from here on Monday.

Exactly at 10 a.m. the 44.4 metres tall weighing around 320 ton polar satellite launch vehicle's XL variant (PSLV-XL) blasted off the first launch pad at the rocket port here, around 80 km from Chennai.

Besides ASTROSAT, the rocket carries six other foreign satellites.