In his first trip to the south after he assumed office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Chennai on Sunday on a special aircraft enroute to Sriharikota to witness the launch of ISRO’s PSLV C-23 rocket.
The Prime Minister’s special aircraft landed after a delay of 40 minutes following bad weather, after which Mr. Modi was welcomed by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka Governor K. Rosaiah and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in the VIP lounge, airport sources said.
Later, Mr. Modi left for the spaceport of Sriharikota, about 100 kilometres from Chennai, where he is set to witness the launch of ISRO’s PSLV C23 carrying five foreign satellites on Monday.
PSLV C23 is scheduled to lift off at 9.52 am on Monday with 714 kg weighing French Earth Observation Satellite SPOT-7, 14 kg AISAT of Germany, NLS7.1 (CAN-X4) & NLS7.2 (CAN-X5) of Canada each weighing 15 kg and the 7 kg VELOX-1 of Singapore.