'Chance to make our nation No-1': Tourists in Srinagar excited to witness Aditya L-1 launch

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): Ahead of the Aditya L1 launch at 11.50 a.m. on Saturday, people across the country are waiting to witness the mission in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The final countdown for the launch of India's maiden solar mission, Aditya L1 onboard the PSLV began on Friday afternoon.
PTI interacted with some tourists in Srinagar on this momentous occasion.

"It is a really good thing. It is a chance to take our nation to the number 1 rank in the world. I want to congratulate the scientists who are studying this, I congratulate the people, it is a proud moment," said Sapan, a tourist. The Sun Observatory mission is all set to be launched from the spaceport at 11.50 a.m. on Saturday and comes close on the heels of India's successful moon expedition, Chandrayaan-3.

The 23-hour 40-minute countdown commenced at 12:10 pm on Thursday. ISRO Chairman S Somanath had earlier said the mission would take 125 days to reach the exact radius. Aditya-L1 is designed for providing remote observations of the solar corona and in situ observations of the solar wind at L1 (Sun-Earth Lagrangian point), which is about 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth.

It will be the first dedicated Indian space mission for observations of the Sun to be launched by the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency.