India on Wednesday(Oct 22nd 2008) rocketed into the big league of exclusive lunar club with a precision launch of its moon mission, Chandrayaan-1.India made history in space science today by joining the elite club of countries that have sent space missions to moon.
The other members of this global elite are the US, Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China. India is the sixth member of this club.
This is the first international mission to the moon led by India, which is carrying six scientific payloads from abroad and five from India. Of the six international instruments, three are from the European Space Agency, two from Nasa and one from Bulgaria.
The moon mission marks a new chapter in the history of Indian space programme that takes a giant leap — from 36,000 km of orbit around earth to 3,84,000 km away to orbit the moon. It also initiates a fresh era of more ambitious interplanetary missions in the future by India to Mars and other planets.
The initial success of the lunar programme is fulfilment of five years of technological striving by Indian space scientists. For the world, it was a clear demonstration of what India can achieve. As former ISRO chief Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan said, the moon mission will help realise India's aim to become a technological powerhouse.
Watch video of Chandrayaan launch here.
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