After starting its space program in 1963, India has finally reached its first destination, Moon, in 2008. Successful launch and post-launch maneuvering actions of Chandrayaan-1, India’s first unmanned lunar mission spacecraft, has proved, beyond any doubt, India’s unquestionable credibility in handling space missions. Following success of Chandrayaan-1, India is now planning Chandrayaan-2 by 2012 and manned mission to moon by 2015.

Over the years, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has achieved commendable expertise and managerial skills in handling mission critical spacecrafts. Even, ISRO has developed its own launch vehicle, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), and satellites to reduce overseas dependencies and high costs. Indian technologies are reliable and cost effective, said a scientific observer.

One of the most critical and crucial maneuvers of any lunar spacecraft is shifting the machine from earth’s orbit to that of moon’s. The maneuvering has been accomplished successfully for Chandrayaan-1, proving high-caliber and specialized skills of ISRO scientists. Moon’s gravity starts effecting on any spacecraft approaching towards it from a distance of about 60,000 km from the moon. At about 500 km from the moon, any object is completely captured by the moon nullifying the earth’s gravitation. The same has happened for the Chandrayaan-1 without creating any trouble. During this complex transition period, satellites have brighter chances of becoming missing objects in the space. Velocity has to be reduced within this range, from 2 km/sec to 1.5 km/sec, else the spacecraft will escape from the lunar gravitation effect.

In order to reduce velocity of Chandrayaan-1 after reaching within the 500 km range of moon, orientation of the spacecraft was turned around by 180 degrees. The special maneuvering has been achieved using on-board reaction wheels and by firing on-board retro-rockets for nearly 800 seconds. ISRO scientists alone have handled all these crucial tasks permitting all Indians stand tall.