Heavy rocket GSLV Mk III undergoing launch checks for historic flight to Moon, says ISRO

Ahead of the launch of the much-awaited Chandrayaan 2, India's second lunar mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday said that India's heavy-lift rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk III), carrying Chandrayaan 2, was undergoing launch checks for their historic flight to the Moon on July 15.

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Taking to Twitter, ISRO said that the Chandrayaan 2 will be launched from the launch pad at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh at 2.51 am (IST) on July 15. "#GSLVMkIII carrying #Chandrayaan2 spacecraft, undergoing launch checks at launch pad in Sriharikota. Launch is scheduled at 2:51AM IST on July 15," tweeted ISRO.

Chandrayaan 2 will go to Moon's south polar region where no country has ever gone before. It is India’s first rover-based space mission. The soft landing on Moon's surface is likely to be on September 6 or September 7.

One of the most complex missions attempted to date, Chandrayaan 2 weighs 3.8-tonne and consists of an orbiter with eight scientific experiments, a lander with three experiments, a rover with two experiments and an experiment from the US space agency NASA.