Chandrayaan-1, India’s first unmanned spacecraft mission to moon, entered lunar orbit today. This is the first time that an Indian built spacecraft has broken away from the Earth’s gravitational field and reached the moon.
Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was launched on October 22, 2008 by PSLV-C11 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. The lunar orbit insertion (LOI) was an important phase for this Rs 386 crore moon mission. Experts say that about 30 per cent of unmanned moon missions of the US and Russia failed during this phase.
With today’s successful entry into the moon’s orbit, India becomes the fifth country to send a spacecraft to Moon, the other countries being the United States, Russia, Japan and China.
ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair said “It (Chandrayaan-1 entering the lunar orbit) will go down in the history of Indian space in golden letters. India now has a “big leadership position” as far as space is concerned.”
A proud moment for the Indians!
I’m proud to be an Indian.
