The India Moon Impact Probe landed on the moon last night after having
flown 3,86,000 km from the earth, which made India the fourth country on Earth
to land a probe on the moon.
"We have given moon to India," the chief of Indian Space Research
Organization (ISRO) G. Madhavan Nair said with excitement minutes after the moon
impact probe (MIP) landed on the lunar surface Friday night.
"The moon has been very favorable to us all through. We have traveled all the
way to the moon," Nair told the media.
The MIP has already sent "beautiful images with high resolution of the moon
and their analysis will now begin," said Nair.
The Indian tricolor is painted on all sides of the 29-kg Moon Impact Probe
which is attached to the main orbiting spacecraft, Chandrayaan-1, which was
launched on Oct. 22.
By now the United States, the former Soviet Union and the European Space
Agency comprising 17 countries already have their flags on the moon.
The flight of the MIP yesterday is supposed to prepare for the second Indian
moon mission, Chandrayaan-2, which will carry a Russian rover and a lander
slated for lift-off between 2010 and 2012.
