Mumbai on top of world as its IITians' satellite enters orbit

At sharp 11.26 am on Monday, India's commercial capital rocketed into the space age when Pratham, a 10 kg satellite, designed and developed by students of IIT-Mumbai, went into orbit. It was the first satellite made in Mumbai.
Two hours, 14 minutes and 42.96 seconds after lift-off when the launch commentator in the mission control room at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, declared that Pratham had gone into orbit, the youngsters felt an immense sense of relief and let out whoops of joy.It was an emotional moment with many of them shedding of tears of joy. The lift-off was at 9.12 am and the rocket was the advanced version of the highly-proven Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Pratham was one of the seven co-passenger satellites. The main one was the 377-kg weather-related satellite, ScatSat-1.
IIT director Devang Khakkar said the Pratham project was an excellent learning experience for the students. Speaking to TOI, programme manager Ratnesh Mishra said, the spacecraft will pass over India twice a day--once at 11.30 am and then at 11.30 pm.