Pall of gloom descends at GSLV mission control in Sriharikota

Gloom descended at the mission control centre of Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) spaceport in Sriharikota today as India's aim of augmenting communication services failed after the GSLV-F06 carrying GSAT-5P met with an unexpected end.

This is the second consecutive failure of Geo-Stationary Launch Vehicle after the GSLV-D3 mission using India's own cryogenic engine after the first one had ended unsuccesfully in April this year.

Minutes after the lift-off from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, GSLV-F06 was seen exploding, leaving in its trail red and orange colour flames.

A melancholic silence enveloped the mission control tower where the country's top-most scientists, including ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan, were glued to the monitors.

As the scientists saw the rocket go up in flames, silence gave way to murmurs of disappointment.