Khaberni - On Sunday, India placed its heaviest communications satellite into Earth's orbit, marking a new achievement in its ambitious space program, announced by its space agency "ISRO".
The head of the agency, V. Narayanan, amid applause from scientists and technicians at the Sriharikota space center in eastern India, said, "The satellite was successfully placed into its orbit."
The satellite "CMS-03" weighing 4.4 tons and designed for communications over the Indian Ocean and Indian territory was launched into space by the rocket "LVM3-M5" which was making its maiden flight.
This rocket is an enhanced version of the one that sent an Indian probe to the Moon's surface in August 2023.
Before India, only Russia, the United States, and China had succeeded in launching a spacecraft and landing it on the Moon's surface.
With the world's largest population, India has ambitious plans for space exploration.
Following the placement of a probe in Mars orbit in 2014 and sending a spacecraft to the Moon's surface in 2023, ISRO plans to send an astronaut into Earth orbit by its own means in 2027.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced his intention to send an Indian astronaut to the Moon by the year 2040.
