Chandrayan I

Today India takes its first baby space into a mission that would take an object created in India to "Chandamama"

No i dont intend to be emotional about things in anycase..rather it is a matter of putting a few things in perspective..scientific perspective.

What exactly have we done ??

the picture on the left seeks to illustrate the relative distances between the various objects in space.

PSLV C11 the vehicle that took the Chandrayan I had its 13th successful launch today. so whats the big deal .. well the previous launches had been for our geosynchronous or polar synchronous satellites. the are barely out of our own atmosphere. if the earth itself is 12756 kms in diameter and the International space station is at just 400 kms from the earth surface .. then there are time when the ISS passed directly overhead Bangalore and Sunita Williams would have been physically closer to me than my parents who are a thousand kms away ..!!!! shocking ..!!! .. but true ..

So there lies the achievement ...till now we have been like fish barely breaking out of the surface of the Ocean of air that surrounds us.. our atmosphere...now we truly venture out..taking the first baby steps ...say hello to our nearest neighbour in space.

While Mamata Bannerjee stops industrialisation, while Raj thakeray beats up northindians while scores die in blasts in Manipur ..India awakens to the dawn of the Space Age.

Jai Hind.