INDIA SUMMARIZED

India on September 26  morning successfully put into orbit its own weather satellite SCATSAT-1 in a copy book style. In the second phase of its mission, the rocket will launch seven other satellites – five foreign and two Indian – between 11.25 to 11.28 a.m., in a different orbit. Exactly at 9.12 a.m., the PSLV rocket standing 44.4 metres tall and weighing 320 tonne tore into the morning skies with fierce orange flames at its tail. Gathering speed every second, the rocket raced towards the heavens amidst the cheers of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) officials and the media team assembled at the rocket port here. At the rocket mission control room, Indian space scientists at ISRO were glued to their computer screens watching the rocket escaping the earth’s gravitational pull. Seventeen minutes into the flight, the rocket’s main cargo, the 371 kg SCATSAT-1 – for ocean and weather related studies – was injected into a 730 km polar sun synch...