BY : PTI


Overcoming technical snags, ISRO on Sunday successfully placed into orbit its latest communication satellite from the spaceport here, giving a major boost Direct-To-Home television services.

In a textbook launch, the rocket GSLV-F04 carrying INSAT-4CR satellite blasted off at 6:21 pm from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, two hours behind schedule after computers put off the launch following unsatisfactory performance of vent valve of the rocket.

The scientists took about one hour 40 minutes to set right the problem and the rocket was cleared for launch at around 6:00 pm.

The Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-F04 placed the 2,130 kg satellite into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) at an altitude of 248 kms about 17 minutes after the liftoff.

The 49-metre tall launch vehicle, the fifth in the GSLV series, soared into the space carrying the 2130 kg (415 tonne) satellite which was manoeuvred into the orbit using its own propulsion system.

"It has been an excellent performance of the launch vehicle. There have been a number of critical moments on this happy occasion," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief G Madhavan Nair told reporters here.

INSAT-4CR is a replacement of its earlier version INSAT-4C that was destroyed on July 10 last year when the launch vehicle GSLV-F02 crashed 56 seconds after lift-off due to malfunctioning of a strap-on motor.