Thiruvananthapuram: On the 50th anniversary of the first rocket launch from Thumba, the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre kept things at a low profile on Thursday. The centre is waiting to launch India’s successful flight of a GSLV rocket fitted with an indigenous cryogenic engine that is expected to take off only by mid- December.
However, VSSC scientists on Thursday, launched the Rohini Sounding Rocket 200 at 6:25 pm, just as they had sent the first rocket up at the same time, 50 years ago. VSSC director S.Ramakrishnan said the golden jubilee would be celebrated befittingly in December.
“We had no plans for any celebrations today as our immediate priority is to re-launch the aborted PSLV mission which is slated for December 15. After that we will have a one-day celebration where both the achievements could be celebrated”, said the director from Hyderabad.
According to a top space scientist, ISRO Chairman K.Radhakrishnan is expected to celebrate the events at VSSC then. Today, RH–200 or Rohini, was launched under the guidance of project director V.K.S.Panicker.
“It is a series of sounding rockets developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for meteorological and atmospheric studies. These sounding rockets are capable of carrying payloads of two to 200 kg between altitudes of 100 and 500 km”, said a top space scientist.
About 10 to 12 entities worked for the successful launch of the RH- 200 rocket. Though today’s rocket was supposed to be at an altitude of 65 km, it reached up to a distance of 69 km, said a top scientist. Several rocket enthusiasts thronged the venue to watch the historic moment being repeated.
