(Image source from: India Today)

India Chandrayaan-2 mission was launched successfully on Monday at 2:45 p.m.

The takeoff of GSLV-Mk III rocket with Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was at the beginning scheduled on July 15, but then the flight was postponed after a technical snag was detected an hour before the rocket lift-off.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) later rectified the fault in its 44-meter Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV-Mk III).

GSLV-Mk III rocket, weighing about 640-tonne, is nicknamed 'Bahubali' after the hero of a successful film of the same name.

Similar to the protagonist of the film lifted a heavy Lingam in one of its scenes, the rocket will carry the 3.8-tonne Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft.

About 16-minutes into its flight, the Rs375-crore GSLV-Mk III rocket is expected to sling the Rs603-crore Chandrayaan-2 into its 170x39,120-km orbit.

ISRO has sent up three GSLV-Mk III rockets so far. The first carried Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment in December 2014. The second and third GSLV-Mk III carried communication satellites GSAT-19 and GSAT-29 in February 2017 and November 2018 respectively.

GSLV-Mk III will also be used for India's manned space mission in 2022.

By Sowmya Sangam