Fifty six minutes and 24 seconds before the scheduled lift-off at 2.51am on Monday from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) noticed a snag in the indigenously built GSLV Mark III, India's most powerful rocket, said two senior scientists on condition of anonymity.
However, the countdown was held back with 56.24 minutes to go for the launch. "Next launch schedule will be announced later".
If India did manage the soft landing, it would be only the fourth country to do so after the U.S., Russian Federation and China.
Unlike other moon missions, the Chandrayaan-2 mission aims to find not just water on our closest celestial neighbor, but also helium-3.
Though ISRO has not come out with any statement on the exact snag, reports indicate a technical team would carry out a thorough review and in all likelihood, the revised launch date could be in September, as the launch windows have to meet a number of technical parameters.
The Chandrayaan-2 - or Moon Chariot 2 - rocket, a key part of India's ambitious space programme, could still blast off on July 29 or 30, media reports said.
ISRO chief, K. Sivan said the lander named Vikram, weighs about half as much, carries within its belly a 27 kg Moon rover with instruments to analyze the lunar soil. Only the US, China and Russian Federation has been able to do so, experts say. The lander and its rover companion will study the landing location using a variety of tools, relaying information back to Earth and breaking some records for the Indian space agency in the process.
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"Each in their own right is a major technological design challenge, with the added complexity that they must all act in unison as an intelligent system for the overall mission to be successful", said Nandi.
The agency gave no immediate indication when it would try again, but experts said ISRO would be cautious.
"In terms of science, this is a very exciting mission with the potential to understand the origin and evolution of the Moon, reconstruct the early solar system environment, and the influence of the Sun's radiation and energetic particles in shaping the composition of the lunar near-surface layers", said Nandi.
But, Chandrayaan 2 can still take off in July.
In 2014, ISRO successfully put a satellite into orbit around Mars, becoming only the fourth nation to do so.
'We were lucky that the mission did not enter the automatic launch sequence else all would have been lost.
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