India Has 4th Space Failure as Scientific Rocket Goes Awry

SHRIHARIKOTA, India — India’s ambitious space program suffered its fourth failure today when scientists lost control of an unmanned five-stage rocket carrying a satellite minutes after liftoff and the 40-ton craft plummeted into the Bay of Bengal.

The 77-foot-high rocket lifted off from the Shriharikota space center, 70 miles north of Madras, bearing the 330-pound satellite that scientists hoped to place into a low-earth orbit, where it was to carry out two scientific experiments.

But mission controllers said they lost contact with the missile 210 seconds into the flight. Shortly afterward they reported the craft, by that time out of vision from the launch pad, had tumbled into the Bay of Bengal in India’s fourth failed space shot. Two have been successful.