India Takes Off to Touch the Moon

India successfully launched their first mission to the surface of the Moon on July 22. This ambitious mission to our nearest neighbor includes an orbiter, lander and rover. If successful, this Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) mission will make India just the fourth nation to land a vehicle safely on the lunar surface.

The Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR at Sriharikota on the southeastern coast of India at 2:43 pm IST (5:13 am EDT). A crowd of 7,500 people watched the launch live from the launch center.