I was right when I mentioned that we would soon have moon mission. After the successful launch of PSLV C9 which dropped 10 satellites successfully into earths orbit, the next mission announced my ISRO is the mission to the moon. The mission is called as Chandrayaan (Meaning Moon vehicle in Hindi). This mission however won’t land a space ship on moon (not even an unmanned ship). The mission is to put a satellite in moon’s orbit to study the terrain and surface of Moon.

“All the instruments for Chandrayaan-I are ready. A few tests have to be conducted, following which we will be ready for the launch in the third quarter of this year. A special vehicle of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) called the PSLV-XL is being prepared for it. The weight of the strap-on thrust will increase from nine to 12 tonnes. All the six motors are ready,” ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair told to the press.

He was also optimistic that India’s first manned mission would happen within 7 years.