Chandrayaan-1 enters lunar orbit

Chandrayaan-1, India s first moon mission, has been successfully put into the lunar orbit today between 04.51 pm to 05.04 pm IST.

With this achievement Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has reached a milestone in the international space arena. This is the first time an Indian built spacecraft has broken away from the Earth s gravitational field and reached the moon.

Talking to ANI in Bangalore, ISRO Chairman G. Madhavan Nair, said with this achievement ISRO has virtually written a history in the Indian space programme.

Expressing happiness on ISRO s accomplishment, Nair added that it was a make-or-break situation since morning. He categorically said that the task was crucial but was carried out with optimum precision.

ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) Director, S. K. Shivkumar said that it couldn t be better than this. Now, the spacecraft has been put into lunar orbit with an apogee of 7500 kilometre and perigee of 500 km.

Shivkumar added four more manoeuvres are yet to take place and his entire team is highly confident about it.

He expressed confidence that with this success, Chandrayaan-2 can be carried out much ahead of the schedule.

On November 13, the spacecraft is expected to reach the 100 km polar orbit of the moon.

The distance between the earth and the moon is 3,86,000 km. (ANI)

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