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NEW DELHI – Over the minutes, less than an hour before the launch and dozens of senior scientists and VPs gathered at a remote coastal site, it appeared that all systems were running.
The sky was clear after a light drizzle. The rocket was standing on the launch pad, full of fuel. The rocket carried an orbiter, a lunar lander, a robotic robot and, in many ways, the space dreams of India.
India will be only the fourth country to land on the moon (with an unmanned rover) and the first to reach the mysterious south pole of the moon. It was a huge step forward for the country's ambitious space program, and around the world, scientists and defense experts were watching to see if the Indians could succeed.
The plan was to launch the mission, called Chandrayaan-2, at 2:51 am on Monday.
But with 56 minutes to go, the countdown has stopped. In the center of the media, just a few miles from the dashboard, mission control screens suddenly turned blue.
"I was alert and ready to watch what was happening with a hawk eye," he said. Pallava Bagla, a well-known science journalist who attended the launch at the Satish Dhawan Space Center near Chennai. "A beautiful moon shone through the clouds and asked the rocket to go there. But then there was confusion. Everyone was trying to understand what was wrong. The excitement was very strong. "
The countless Indians across the country who were in the middle of the night and were watching quickly did not know what was going on. But they had a bad feeling.
"I had my laptop open, I followed the news and we were all very excited. It's a great moment of pride for all Indians, "said Namrata Bera, a professor of space school. "I'm sad, of course, but deep in me, I totally believe that we will succeed in this mission."
In the end, Indian scientists announced that nothing disastrous had happened, but that the long-awaited launch was to be postponed following the discovery of a "technical hitch" when filling the rocket with cryogenic fuel . They were studying impressions and quantities of data, they said Monday morning, and would provide more information as soon as they would have it.
Mr. Bagla, who has attended more than 20 launches, said discussions had taken place at the space center A small leak could have occurred in the rocket engine. Indian space scientists would not want to say anything about it.
"We have not concluded anything yet," said Vivek Singh, spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organization, an Indian version of NASA.
But, Mr. Singh admitted, "It was unfortunate."
The weather was "absolutely favorable," said Singh. Monday morning was wet and hot in the 90s even after midnight.
The Satish Dhawan Space Center is located in an isolated coastal area, far from all cities, on a lonely tongue of land, essentially a barrier island. Wild cows and leopards roam freely. Several hundred journalists and dignitaries, including Ram Nath Kovind, president of India, had flown to attend the launch.
The spacecraft had been mounted on India's most powerful rocket, a geosynchronous satellite satellite launcher – Mark III, which had successfully launched at least twice.
Once in space, the orbiter would follow a slow and steady (and profitable) journey on the Moon, creating ever wider orbits around the Earth before being captured by the gravity of the moon and dragged into space. lunar orbit. It would save fuel and take about 50 days.
Then, a lunar lander would emerge and make a soft landing on the powdery surface of the moon, considered the most delicate aspect of the operation. the The Israelis crushed a lander in April trying to do the same thing.
But the Indians are convinced that they can do it and, if necessary, a small remote-controlled six-wheeled mobile could make its appearance. The rover would roll over the moon's surface, near the South Pole, collecting samples and conducting experiments.
The entire mission was carefully chosen to maximize sunlight so that the solar-powered rover could work. This is why the postponement of the mission raises complications.
The scientists worked backwards, starting with the exact time they wanted the rover to land on the moon and determining that the best time to launch the rocket was early Monday.
The mission had already been delayed several times, but never with the rocket sitting on the launch pad, everything was revived and there were only a few minutes left.
Mr Singh said he was confident that the Indian Space Agency would solve the problem and soon choose a new launch time, without knowing when.
Indians from all over the country are waiting. The possibility of reaching the moon has sparked an explosion of national pride, especially among children who study the space.
Veronica Sodhi, a charming 12-year-old girl who wants to become an astronaut, has assimilated all the details of the Chandrayaan mission to her school near New Delhi. She was not allowed to stand to watch the launch, but she was eager to see the video later in the day.
When she woke up Monday at 6 am to go to school, her parents announced the bad news.
"You know that feeling when you have the hope of seeing something you really want to do and suddenly it breaks up," she said.
That's what she felt, she said.
"But it's a technical problem," she explained in a cheery voice, "and maybe the launch will take place in two or three months."
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