蜜芽传媒

India has launched its first observation mission to the Sun, just days after the country made history by becoming the first to land near the Moon's south pole.

Aditya-L1 lifted off from the launch pad at Sriharikota on Saturday at 11:50 India time (06:20 GMT).

It will travel 1.5 million km (932,000 miles) from the Earth - 1% of the Earth-Sun distance.

India's space agency says it will take four months to travel that far.

India's first space-based mission to study the solar system's biggest object is named after Surya - the Hindu god of Sun who is also known as Aditya.

And L1 stands for Lagrange point 1 - the exact place between Sun and Earth where the Indian spacecraft is heading.

Newshour's Krupa Padhy has been speaking to Sandeeya Ramesh,聽a senior science editor at the Print India, in Bangalore about how India is riding high on the space success of recent days.

Photo shows: A live coverage shows Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s Aditya-L1 mission payloads blasting off. Credit: EPA

Show less