Isro readies for launch of India's heaviest rocket

MUMBAI: The final 24-and-a-half-hour countdown to the launch of India’s most powerful and heaviest rocket GSLV Mk-III kicked off at 9am on Wednesday. The rocket is scheduled to liftoff from Sriharikota at 9.30am on Thursday.
If successful, this mission will take the country a step closer towards the much-delayed human spaceflight programme. Over 30 years ago, in April 1984, Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian man in space during a joint Indo-Soviet manned space mission.
Isroofficials told TOI that a series of measures will be taken before the liftoff, like checking the crew module, which is the only payload, and liquid stage propellant filling. Weighing 640 tonne, the three-stage rocket with two S-200 solid boosters, stated to be the second largest in the world liquid and cryogenic stage, is nearly 50% heavier than the existing Geo Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle.
Once operational, this rocket will have the capability to ferry four-tonne class of Insat series of communication satellites, which are currently being flown by Arianespace.
A nine-and-a-half-hour launch rehearsal was conducted on December 14, and on Tuesday, after a second mission readiness review, the launch authorization board gave the final go ahead.
The sheer might of the rocket can be gauged from the fact that when the two solid boosters spring into life simultaneously during liftoff on Thursday morning, they will generate a thrust of over 800 tonne. So ear-deafening will be noise that for the first time Isro will activate a sound suppression system at the launch pad and spray 20 tonne of water each second to reduce the noise.
The primary role of this much-awaited flight is to evaluate the performance of the crew module which will splash into the Bay of Bengal off the Andaman Islands nearly 20 minutes after the launch.