India’s first unmanned flight to the moon blasted off from Sriharikota, off the Andhra Pradesh coast, early morning on Wednesday.

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 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at exactly 0622 hrs IST.

IANS reports the PSLV started to move into its designated orbit within minutes, to sling Chandrayaan into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), as scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) cheered on. Once the 1,380-kg Chandrayaan gets near the moon its speed will be reduced to enable the gravity of the moon to capture it into an elliptical orbit.

At the earliest possible opportunity Chandrayaan will drop its Moon Impact Probe (MIP) which will land on the moon’s soil carrying India’s flag, among many scientific instruments. After that, the spacecraft will also activate its cameras and other instruments on board.

ISRO scientists said the launch was perfect and there was zero error during the four of its phases. Speaking minutes after the successful liftoff ISRO Chairperson G Madhavan Nair described the moment as “historic”.

Part 1 : Part 2 Updated

Source: NyTimes, IbnLive