Vajpayee happy about fruition of Chandrayaan take-off

New Delhi, Oct 22 (UNI) Senior BJP leader and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today expressed happiness over the successful launch of Chandrayaan-1, the country's first unmanned mission to the moon.

In a statement, the former PM congratulated Indian Space Research Organisation Chief G Madhavan Nair and other scientists and engineers working on this mission and said they had worked relentlessly and with commendable fortitude to place an Indian spacecraft, carrying the Tricolour, on the trajectory to the moon.

"I am pleased that this project, which was planned during the NDA Government, has been brought to a successful fruition. I had the honour of announcing it in my Independence Day address to the nation in 2003." The mission to the moon is a stupendous achievement by India in the frontier space research area and what was creditable was that India's achievement is based on self-reliant efforts. ''I am sure that, other than the scientific knowledge that Chandrayaan - I will garner it will also serve as a beacon of inspiration to the younger generation,'' he said.

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