Whoosh! Here is the moment that India was waiting for. The Rs 978 crore Chandrayaan-2 mission has been launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota.
People in the country broke out into celebrations as India's most powerful spacecraft lifted off. Here is the video:
At exactly 2.43 p.m, the Rs 375 crore GSLV-Mk III rocket began its ascent into space from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) here.
The 43.4 metre tall, 640 ton rocket, nicknamed 'Bahubali' for as the hero in the successful film lifts a heavy lingam, it carries the 3.8-tonne Chandrayaan-2, which will carry out India's second mission to its closest celestial neighbour.
ISRO has sent up three GSLV-Mk III rockets so far. The first carried Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment in December 2014. The second and third GSLV-Mk III carried communication satellites GSAT-19 and GSAT-29 in February 2017 and November 2018 respectively.
GSLV-Mk III will also be used for India's manned space mission in 2022.
