ISRO a few hours away from historic Mars Mission launch

Sriharikota, India's premier space agency, ISRO, is just a few hours away from its historic mission to Mars, its first-ever launch outside the Earth's sphere of influence in its 44-year-long history.

The Mission Control Room at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre here, about 100 from Chennai, is abuzz with activity as scientists are monitoring the countdown time CDT for launch of India's first mission to the red planet.

"The countdown is progressing normally. All vehicle systems were switched on for the final eight and half hour countdown which started at 6:08 AM," a spokesman of the Indian Space Research Organisation said.PTI