Barely a week before the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, ISRO was all set to take a gigantic leap in Indian space science history by launching Chandrayaan-2, the successor for the previous namesake to the moon. Enthusiasts of all ages had gathered at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota to witness the scientific feat achieved after months of hard work at a special gallery set up by ISRO near the venue. However, the hordes of people were disappointed when the launch was called off due to a technical snag, less than an hour before the scheduled lift off.
The countdown to the launch of Chandrayaan-2 onboard GSLVMkIII-M1—scheduled for 0251 hours was stopped 56 minutes and 24 seconds before the left off, precisely at 1:55 am. Confusion prevailed amongst onlookers and dignitaries, which included the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind before ISRO confirmed that a technical issue was detected in one of the launch systems of the GSLVMkIII-M1. According to agencies, the problem was detected during the unloading of the cryogenic fuel. A new launch schedule is expected soon after the experts analyze the rocket after emptying the fuel. Although there has been no official statement explaining the situation yet, minutes after the unfortunate incident, ISRO tweeted, “A technical snag was observed in launch vehicle system at 1 hour before the launch. As a measure of abundant precaution, #Chandrayaan2 launch has been called off for today. Revised launch date will be announced later.”
A successful launch will place India as the fourth country to soft land on the lunar surface after Russia, United States and China and pave a way into the elite space club. The three component spacecraft consisting of an orbiter, lander and a rover is targeted to explore the Lunar South Pole, for the first time in space history. The Rs. 978 crore mission was riding on the Geosynchronous Launch vehicle GSLVMkIII-M1, and was scheduled to make the landing within the first week of September through meticulously planned orbital phases.
