spacetoday.net: India launches first lunar mission

Posted: Wed, Oct 22, 2008, 9:30 AM ET (1330 GMT)
Chandrayaan 1 illustration (ISRO)

India successfully launched its first mission to the Moon early Wednesday. A Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket lifted off from the Indian spaceport at Sriharikota at 8:52 pm EDT Tuesday (0052 GMT, 6:22 am local time Wednesday), placing the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft into a transfer orbit around the Earth with a perigee of 250 km and an apogee of 23,000 km. The spacecraft will gradually increase the apogee of that parking orbit before entering a lunar transfer trajectory in early November and eventually settling into a 100-km polar orbit. The spacecraft is carrying a suite of instruments not only from India but also from Europe and NASA. Also on the spacecraft is an impactor probe that will be ejected from the orbiter shortly after arriving in lunar orbit. The mission is India's first beyond Earth orbit and is seen as a sign that India is ready to increase its ambitions in space beyond communications and remote sensing, which have been the primary missions for the Indian space agency ISRO since its inception in the 1960s.