India, Sept. 4 -- A GSLV-F17 rocket on Friday successfully placed the heaviest Earth observation satellite EOS-05 in the geosynchronous orbit, marking a great achievement in the country's space programme, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman V Narayanan said on Friday.

In a precise textbook launch, after the conclusion of the 27.5 hour countdown, the 51.7 metre tall rocket, lifted off majestically emanating bright orange colour fumes on its tail from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota at a pre-fixed time of 2.55 am at the spaceport, located about 135 km east of Chennai on Friday.

After a flight journey of about 19 minutes (from the lift-off), the satellite got separated from the launch veh...