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Chandrayaan moved to launch
platform for rehearsal
Indo-Asian
News Service
Bangalore,
Oct 18 (IANS) India's first lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1
has been moved to the launch platform for rehearsals ahead
of its Oct 22 launch, a top Indian space agency official said
Saturday.
The
fully integrated Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C11)
with the lunar spacecraft atop was moved to the launch pad
at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra
Pradesh, about 80 km from Chennai, and off the Bay of Bengal.
All
going well and weather permitting, India's first unmanned
lunar mission is set for launch at 6.20 a.m. Wednesday.
"The
launch vehicle with the spacecraft has reached its final destination
- the second launch pad - late Friday after traversing about
1 km from the vehicle assembly building on rails at a snail's
pace of a few centimetres per minute," Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) director S. Satish told IANS here.
Inclement
weather and drizzle did not dampen the spirit of the space
scientists and technicians involved in the exercise.
"The
316-tonne launch vehicle with the 1,380 kg spacecraft is being
fitted to the launch pad. The launch exercises, including
testing, are in progress. About 1,000 scientists and technicians
are working round-the-clock to prepare for the 52-hour initial
countdown from the wee hours of Oct 20," Satish added.
With
11 scientific instruments (payloads), including six foreign
and five Indian, Chandrayaan was mated with the launch vehicle
late Thursday for mandatory checks and the final journey.
Indo-Asian
News Service
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