India has successfully placed a space craft in lunar orbit...one day after my birthday!

Indian moon mission launched from Sriharikota on October 22, will draw a three-dimensional map of the moon, carrying out its chemical mapping and hunting for water or ice.

On November 9, India became the fifth member of the global moon club with Chandrayaan-1 entering the lunar orbit at 5.04 pm (IST). The other four members are the US, Russia (former Soviet Union), Japan, China and members of European Space Agency (ESA). According to Isro officials, Chandrayaan's liquid engine was fired for 817 seconds when the spacecraft passed at a distance of about 500 km from the moon to reduce its velocity to enable the lunar gravity to capture it around the moon. Chandrayaan's speed was reduced to 366 metres per second when it flew into the moon's orbit. Experts said it was a significant feat because India's moonshot was successful in the very first attempt — something that even major space powers like the US and Russia could not achieve. The man who launched the Indian moon mission, Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, had said, "It's undoubtedly a great moment for India because nearly 50% of the moon missions of other countries have not been successful." Chandrayaan-1, the two-year Rs 386 crore Indian moon mission launched from Sriharikota on October 22, will draw a three-dimensional map of the moon, carrying out its chemical mapping and hunting for water or ice. Kasturirangan said the lunar orbit insertion (LOI) was a nail-biting moment because two objects — the moon and Chandrayaan — moving at a high speed had to have a successful rendezvous. At a certain point, the gravity of moon and that of earth cancel each other out, making LOI very challenging.