India’s PSLV launches 8 satellites

Crossing another milestone in its space programme, India today successfully launched eight satellites from one rocket into two different orbits.

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, carrying three satellites each from India and Algeria, and one each from Canada and the United States, lifted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in southern state of Andhra Pradesh this morning and around noon, said Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

"It was 100 percent successful," said ISRO.

India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on September 26, 2016 launches three satellites each from India and Algeria, and one each from Canada and the United States, from one rocket into two different orbits. Photo taken from ISRO website

This is the first time that ISRO put satellites in two different orbits.

The twin-orbit manoeuvre was recently accomplished by European Space Agency's Vega rocket, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

One of the Indian satellites injected into orbit today relates to weather forecasting, cyclone detection and tracking. The other two are academic satellites.

The foreign satellites onboard the PSLV are ALSAT-1B, ALSAT-2B and ALSAT-1N (all from Algeria) and Pathfinder-1 and NLS-19, from USA and Canada, respectively.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated ISRO and its scientists on successful launch of PSLV-35 and advanced weather satellite SCSAT-1 and 7 other co-passenger satellites.