ISRO postpones launch of Chandrayaan-1

Bangalore, Feb 25: India's ambitious space mission Chandrayaan-1, slated for launch in last week of April, has now been put off to July, ISRO sources said today. The postponement of the launch of the 525-kg lunar orbiter became necessary as more work was pending in respect of payload integration.

However, there was absolutely no setback with regard to the mission, ISRO sources said. ISRO now planned to launch the satellite using a PSLV which will carry 11 payloads, including six from foreign nations, in the first week of July. The vehicle would carry six instruments belonging to the US, UK, Sweden, Bulgaria and Germany, apart from the five being built by ISRO.

The sources denied any hardware problem adding it was only a caution being taken for a flawless launch.

UNI