India launches its largest rocket

India successfully launched its biggest ever rocket on Thursday as the country ramps up its ambitious space program.

The launch vehicle carried an unmanned capsule that could one day take astronauts into space.

The Indian Space and Research Organization said on Thursday that the rocket, weighing 630 metric tons and designed to carry heavy loads such as communication satellites into high orbit, blasted off from Sriharikota in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

"This was a very significant day in the history of the Indian space program," ISRO chairman K.S Radhakrishnan said from mission control as fellow scientists clapped and cheered.

ISRO scientists have been riding high since an Indian spacecraft successfully reached Mars in September on a shoestring budget, sparking an outpouring of national pride.

Although India has successfully launched lighter satellites in recent years, it has struggled to match the heavier loads sent up by other countries.

The new rocket, capable of carrying 4 metric tons, is a boost for India's attempts to grab a greater slice of the $300 billion global space market.

"India, you have a new launch vehicle. We have made it again," ISRO mission director S. Somnath said.

"The powerful launch vehicle has come to shape, which will change our destiny ... placing heavier spacecraft into communications orbits."

The rocket - officially named the Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk III - was carrying an unmanned crew capsule that ISRO said successfully separated from the rocket and splashed down in the Bay of Bengal off India's east coast 20 minutes after liftoff.

(China Daily 12/19/2014 page11)