05
May
Chennai: The countdown for the launch Friday evening of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-MkII) rocket carrying the South Asia satellite or GSAT-9 is progressing smoothly, an official of the Indian space agency said. The rocket is expected to blast off at 4.57 p.m. on Friday from the second launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh around 80 km from here. The 28-hour countdown for the rocket launch began at 12.57 p.m. on Thursday. Standing 49 metres tall and weighing around 450 ton, the GSLV is a three stage rocket. The first stage is fired with…