India launches rocket in second try at moon landing

Success would make nation the fourth to reach the lunar surface

20230714  Chandrayaan-3 Launch

An Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) rocket carrying the Chandrayaan-3 lunar spacecraft lifts off on July 14. © AFP/Jiji

KIRAN SHARMA, Nikkei staff writer

NEW DELHI -- India on Friday launched an ambitious mission to land a spacecraft on the moon, anxious to forget about a previous disappointment and become the fourth nation to make it to the celestial body.

A rocket carrying the lunar module Chandrayaan-3, Sanskrit for "moon vehicle," lifted off at 2:35 p.m. local time from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in the south, before a crowd braving the mid-afternoon heat.

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