Chandrayaan-2 launch rescheduled on Monday at 2:43pm: ISRO

In a jolt to the Indian space programme, the launch of India's second mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-2, using the GSLV-Mk-III rocket variant was called off due to a technical snag less than an hour before lift off on Monday.

Less than an hour before lift off, India's second mission to Moon, Chandrayaan-2 onboard GSLVMkIII-M1 was Monday called off due to a technical snag, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said. (Twitter)

New Delhi: The Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday announced the rescheduled date for the launch of India’s lunar mission Chandrayaan-2, which was called off due to technical snag on July 15. The launch will now take place on July 22, 2019 (Monday) in the afternoon at 2:43 pm, ISRO announced. In a jolt to the Indian space programme, the launch of India's second mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-2, using the GSLV-Mk-III rocket variant was called off due to a technical snag less than an hour before lift off on Monday.

Chandrayaan-2 launch, which was called off due to a technical snag on July 15, 2019, is now rescheduled at 2:43 pm IST on Monday, July 22, 2019. #Chandrayaan2 #GSLVMkIII #ISRO

— ISRO (@isro) July 18, 2019

The countdown to the launch scheduled for 2.51 am was stopped 56 minutes and 24 seconds before lift off at 1.55 am following the announcement from the Mission Control Centre. Confusion prevailed for several minutes before ISRO came out with an official confirmation about the launch being cancelled. "A technical snag was observed in the launch vehicle system at t-minus 56 minutes. As a measure of abundant precaution Chandrayaan 2 launch has been called off for today," ISRO Associate Director (Public Relations), B R Guruprasad said. "Revised launch date will be announced later," he added. Scientists hail ISRO for detecting Chandrayaan-2 glitch in time: Giving credit to ISRO for saving the day with its alertness, several space scientists on Monday said the space agency must be appreciated for calling off the launch of India's second Moon mission, Chandrayaan-2, rather than hurrying into a major disaster.