The 20-hour countdown for the July 15 early morning lift-off of India’s heavy rocket nicknamed the ‘Bahubali’ carrying the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft began at 6.51 a.m. on Sunday, a top official of the Indian space agency said.
“The countdown started at 6.51 a.m.,” K. Sivan, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), told IANS.
The 640-tonne rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV-Mk III) standing at about 44 metre tall, is nicknamed the ‘Bahubali’, as like the hero in the successful film lifts a heavy Lingam, the rocket will carry the 3.8-tonne Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft.
About 16-minutes into its flight, the Rs 375 crore GSLV-Mk III rocket is expected to sling the Rs 603 crore Chandrayaan-2 into an Earth parking 170×40400 km orbit.