We now know a lot about Chandrayaan 1. But when did the Indian scientists conceive the idea of a lunar mission? Let’s now dig up a little history.
It all began in 1999 in a meeting at the Indian Academy of Sciences-that’s where they discussed the first Indian scientific mission to the Moon. This discussion was taken forward by the Astronautical Society of India (ASI). It was followed by the setting up of the National Lunar Mission Task Force by the ISRO in 2000. By 2003, over hundred eminent Indian scientists from different fields including Earth sciences, planetary sciences, physics, chemistry, astronomy, astrophysics, engineering, and communication sciences confirmed that our country was capable of conducting such a mission.
Following this, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then prime minister of India announced the Chandrayaan 1 project during his Independence Day speech the same year. Government approval for the same was gained three months later in November. From then on, hundreds of Indian scientists devoted their time and brains to make this dream a reality.
Picture Credit : Google