Chennai: The 56 and-a-half hour countdown for the launch of India's first space mission to Mars, slated for November 5, commenced today at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
“The 56 hours and 30 minutes countdown started as per schedule at 06.08 AM. It is proceeding smoothly,” a spokesman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told PTI over phone this morning.
ISRO's workhorse launch vehicle PSLV C25, carrying India's first inter-planetary satellite Mars Orbiter Mission, is scheduled to lift off at 2.38 pm on November 5 from the spaceport of Sriharikota, some 100 km from here.
The Launch Authorisation Board had on November 1 given its consent for the launch of the MOM after the successful conduct of a launch rehearsal the previous day.
The rocket is expected to take over 40 minutes to inject the satellite into Earth's orbit after the take off.
