spacetoday.net: Indian Mars mission launch rescheduled for November 5

Indian Mars mission launch rescheduled for November 5

Posted: Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 8:04 AM ET (1204 GMT)
India Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft illus. (ISRO)

The Indian space agency announced Tuesday that it has rescheduled the launch of that nation's first mission to Mars to early November. The launch of the Mars Orbiter Mission is now planned for the afternoon of November 5. ISRO had planned to launch the spacecraft as early as October 28, but delays in getting tracking ships into position in the Pacific pushed the launch back. The 1,350-kilogram spacecraft is designed to go into an elliptical orbit around Mars and study the planet's surface and atmosphere. The mission is India's first attempt to go to Mars and only the second Indian spacecraft to go beyond Earth orbit, after the Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter mission.