Chandrayaan-1 Lifts Off Successfully; Placed in Transfer Orbit

Chandrayaan-1 lifts off successfully from Sriharikota, off the Andhra Pradesh coast, early morning on Wednesday.

The launch was perfect and the spacecraft, was put into Transfer Orbit around the earth by the Polar Launch Vehicle PSLV-C11 after it blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre exactly 0622 hrs IST.

Pic – Perfect Launch For Chandrayaan -1

A 44-metre-tall and 316-tonne rocket called the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV C11) carried the 1,380-kg lunar orbiter Chandrayaan 1.

Pic – Launch pad of the Chandrayaan

This marks India’s entry into select band of lunar explorers — the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan, China, the US and Russia.

Chandrayaan-1 Quick Facts

• It will take about 5 days for Chandrayaan-1 to get to the Moon.
• Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft will be in a 100 km polar orbit around the Moon