India has successfully launched its second mission to the moon, a week after it aborted the first attempt due to a technical glitch.
Chandrayaan-2 was launched at 13:13 UAE time from the Sriharikota space station in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
The rocket is carrying an orbiter, a lander and a rover, which has been almost entirely designed and made in India.
The success of this mission will make India only the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to pull off a soft landing on the moon.
According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the lander is expected to touch down on the little-explored south pole of the moon on September 6 or 7.
The orbiter, which has a mission life of a year, will take images of the lunar surface.
Chandrayaan-2 also stands out because of its low cost. The project, worth around $150 million (AED 550 million) has a much smaller price tag compared with similar missions by other countries.
#GSLVMkIII-M1 successfully injects #Chandrayaan2 spacecraft into Earth Orbit
— ISRO (@isro) July 22, 2019
Here's the view of #Chandrayaan2 separation#ISRO pic.twitter.com/GG3oDIxduG
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