Al-Jazeera.com :India successfully launched its biggest ever rocket, including an unmanned capsule which could one day send astronauts into space, as the country ramps up its ambitious space programme.The rocket, designed to carry heavier communicationand other satellites into higher orbit, blasted off from Sriharikota in the southeast state of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday.”This was a very significant day in the history of (the) Indian space programme,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K.S Radhakrishnan said from mission control as fellow scientists clapped and cheered.ISRO scientists have been riding high since an Indian spacecraft successfully reached Mars in September on a shoe-string budget, winning Asia’s race to the Red Planet and sparking an outpouring of national pride.Although India has successfully launched lighter satellites in recent years, it has struggled to match the heavier loads sent up by other countries.
