India launches 4 satellites on single rocket

Source: CCTV.com | 01-11-2007 10:23

India has launched four satellites on a single rocket for the first time. The launch sets the stage for the country to eventually send an astronaut into space.

On Wednesday, the PSLV-C7 rocket took off from the Indian Space Research Organization launch-pad in Sriharikota on India's southeast coast. It was carrying two small Indian satellites as well as one Indonesian and one Argentinean satellite.

One of the Indian satellites, the Space Capsule Recovery Equipment, will test ISRO's ability to recover an orbiting space capsule as well as the technology associated with the complicated exercise.

ISRO approved India's first indigenous manned mission into space in November. It hopes to send an astronaut into space by 2014. The organization is already working on the launch of its first unmanned mission to orbit the moon in 2008. Discussions have also been held about sending a person to the moon by 2020.

Wednesday's successful launch is the first, after ISRO's plan to put one of its heaviest satellites into space failed last July. The rocket went into a tailspin and disintegrated soon after lift-off.

The ISRO is also planning to increase the number of its satellite launches. It wants to capture around ten percent of the global market for launching satellites into space.

It also hopes to build communication satellites and launch them for developing nations.

Editor:Du Xiaodan