<p>An Indian rocket carrying the country's second navigation satellite - IRNSS-1B - Friday blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here in Andhra Pradesh.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Exactly at 5.14 p.m., the rocket - Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C24 (PSLV-C24) standing around 44.4 metres tall and weighing around 320 tonnes - tore into the evening sky with orange flames fiercely burning at its tail. The space centre is around 80 km north of Chennai.<br /><br />Space scientists and other invitees at Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) rocket mission control room intently watched the rocket's progress as it escaped the earth's gravitational pull.<br /><br />ISRO officials are hoping that the agency's crucial space mission will turn out to be a grand success.<br /><br />The rocket is expected to sling its only luggage, the 1,432 kg IRNSS-1B (Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System), into the space around 20 minutes after the blast-off.<br /><br />India is expected to have its own satellite navigation system with four satellites in the space before the end of this year, ISRO chairman K.Radhakrishnan told IANS earlier.<br /><br />According to Radhakrishnan, though the IRNSS is a seven-satellite system, it could be made operational with four satellites. The two more navigation satellites will be launched during the second half of 2014. The first one - IRNSS-1A - was launched July 2013.<br /><br />India began its space journey in 1975 with the launch of Aryabhatta using a Russian rocket and till date, it has completed over 100 space missions, including missions to the moon and Mars.</p>
<p>An Indian rocket carrying the country's second navigation satellite - IRNSS-1B - Friday blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here in Andhra Pradesh.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Exactly at 5.14 p.m., the rocket - Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C24 (PSLV-C24) standing around 44.4 metres tall and weighing around 320 tonnes - tore into the evening sky with orange flames fiercely burning at its tail. The space centre is around 80 km north of Chennai.<br /><br />Space scientists and other invitees at Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) rocket mission control room intently watched the rocket's progress as it escaped the earth's gravitational pull.<br /><br />ISRO officials are hoping that the agency's crucial space mission will turn out to be a grand success.<br /><br />The rocket is expected to sling its only luggage, the 1,432 kg IRNSS-1B (Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System), into the space around 20 minutes after the blast-off.<br /><br />India is expected to have its own satellite navigation system with four satellites in the space before the end of this year, ISRO chairman K.Radhakrishnan told IANS earlier.<br /><br />According to Radhakrishnan, though the IRNSS is a seven-satellite system, it could be made operational with four satellites. The two more navigation satellites will be launched during the second half of 2014. The first one - IRNSS-1A - was launched July 2013.<br /><br />India began its space journey in 1975 with the launch of Aryabhatta using a Russian rocket and till date, it has completed over 100 space missions, including missions to the moon and Mars.</p>