Indian Mishap

India's largest launch vehicle, the GSLV, malfunctioned Saturday shortly after liftoff and had to be destroyed. It was the second failed launch of the rocket this year.

The GSLV carried a huge communications satellite and had had to be modified to accomodate that size. Whether that modification contributed to the malfunction is not yet known. Whatever the cause turns out to be, the failure is a setback for the building space power. Historically, however, failures are relatively common in the development of new rockets. The Indians plan to push forward, though, on their emerging space program.