lunar missions

India's Flag Landed On Moon

Armen Hareyan — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:00:50 -0600

At 8:34 pm Indian time Friday night (1504 UTC), India became the fourth group to land its flag on the Moon. The unmanned lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1 ejected its Moon Impact Probe, which hurtled across the surface of the Moon at 1.5 kilometres per second (3000 miles per hour), and successfully crash landed near the Moon's south pole. Besides carrying three important scientific instruments, the lunar probe also carried the image of the Indian national flag, painted on all sides.

India's moon craft reaches final lunar orbit

Armen Hareyan — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 06:38:26 -0600

India's first lunar mission, the Chandrayaan-1 (meaning 'moon craft' in Sanskrit), reached its destined lunar orbit on Wednesday. The satellite's on-board engine was fired for 58 seconds.

Chandrayaan-1 enters lunar orbit successfully

Armen Hareyan — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 13:28:34 -0600

After two weeks of journey India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 entered the lunar orbit on Saturday (Nov. 08, 2008) evening. It started at 16:50 hrs IST and within 14 minutes, it the entered lunar orbit. It is now 504 km from Moon. ISRO says the most critical operation is successful. With this development, India's moon mission has been declared successful.

India readies first unmanned lunar mission

Armen Hareyan — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:35:14 -0500

As India readies to launch its first unmanned lunar mission on 22nd October, space authorities are awaiting the green signal from the government for the country's maiden human space flight planned around 2015.

Chinese lunar probe operating normally, on planned trajectory

Dinka — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 05:29:31 -0500

China's first lunar probe is operating normally and is on its planned trajectory more than one week after blasting off, a government agency said Thursday.

China to launch lunar probe on Wednesday

Dinka — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:35:17 -0500

China is to launch its first lunar probe on Wednesday, just weeks after its rival, Japan , sent satellite into moon orbit. The wider window has been set for between Oct. 24 and Oct. 26, but the best time is about 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Li Guoping, a spokesman for the China National Space Administration, said Monday.

China to launch lunar probe

Dinka — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:04:23 -0500

Chinese newspapers reported Tuesday that the country would launch its first lunar probe later that month. The Beijing Evening News said the Chang'e 1 orbiter would be launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on Oct. 24 at 6 p.m.

Japan's lunar probe reaches Moon orbit

Dinka — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 09:57:40 -0500

The most ambitious mission to study Earth's nearest neighbor since the U.S. Apollo project flourishes - Japan 's first lunar satellite successfully moved into orbit Friday.

Japan successfully launches Selene lunar orbiter

Dinka — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 09:48:06 -0500

Japan has successfully launched and put into Earth orbit its Selene lunar orbit explorer, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said Friday.

Japan delays lunar mission

Dinka — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 11:53:06 -0500

The space agency of Japan announced that it decided to delay the launch of its lunar space probe for a few days. The orbiter is to be launched later this week due to anticipated bad weather, an official said Tuesday.

Russia has plans for living on the moon

Armen Hareyan — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 20:51:39 -0500

Russia to send manned mission to the Moon by 2025 and to establish a permanent manned base on the moon's surface - space agency.

Japan's lunar orbiter to get launched in August

Dinka — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 10:57:04 -0500

Japan's officials announced that first Japanese lunar orbiter was scheduled for launch on Aug. 16. Japan's space agency, JAXA, announced the much-delayed Selenological and Engineering Explorer - or SELENE - probe will be launched aboard an H-2A rocket, the mainstay of Japan's space program, from a space center on the remote southern Japan island of Tanegashima.