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A small groundswell is rising in Congress for a faster start on the heavy-lift launch vehicle President Barack Obama says he wants, but it may be swamped by the backwash from growing irritation over NASA’s sluggish production of justification for its “game-changing” new approach. A bipartisan gang of 62 House members wants Obama to initiate “the immediate development and production of a heavy-lift launch vehicle that, in conjunction with the Orion crew exploration vehicle, may be used for either lunar or deep-space exploration.” Their June 22 letter to Obama, circulated by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), follows word from Sen. Bill...

Bangalore, Aug 21. (PTI): India has designed GSLV-MkIII, a heavier lift launcher that would meet the four tonne class communication satellite requirements, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair said here today. "We are already on the move. Already, design stage (of Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, or GSLV, -MkIII) is over. We have started the fabrication of many of the systems," Nair said. With GSLV-MkIII, the new generation vehicle which would be developed by ISRO by 2007-2008, India would be totally self-reliant in launching satellites with indigenous launch vehicles, he said. Besides catering to the growing requirements of INSAT...