Pakistan, May 18 -- SATISH DHAWAN SPACE CENTRE - India's latest space mission ended in disappointment as the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) failed to launch its EOS-09 Earth observation satellite on Saturday night. The failure occurred due to a malfunction in the rocket's third stage.

The satellite lifted off aboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. While the initial stages of the launch went smoothly, ISRO officials confirmed that the problem began about six minutes after liftoff.

"The PSLV is a four-stage vehicle. The first and second stages performed normally," ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan said in a televised address. "However, an issue occurred during the third stage, and unfortuna...