I am elated, excited, glad and exuberant!

As India starts its countdown for its moon mission ‘Chandrayaan-I‘ I can’t help remember the song “Chhodo kal ki baaten, kal ki baat purani” from the film “Hum Hindustani” released in 1960.

Chandryaan, which comes from the Hindi words Chandra meaning the “moon” and yaan meaning “vehicle” is to be launched on Wednesday, 22nd October at 0050 GMT from Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota.

The flight to the moon shall take 5 days, with the objective of creating a 3D atlas of near and far side of the moon. It shall also do chemical and mineralogical mapping of the surface for different minerals and metals.

Its imagery is also expected to be used by NASA for setting up their Moonbase in future. Built at a cost of US$76 million, the mission includes five ISRO payloads and six payloads from other international space agencies such as NASA and ESA, and the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency.

Click herefor the 3D model of Chandrayaan.

Wednesday would be a day for us to be proud of ISRO, it shall also be the day when we shall be witnessing an story worth telling for years to come.

Naya daur likhenge milkar nayi kahani…