No plan for manned mission to Moon: Govt.

New Delhi, Aug 10 (UNI) There is no proposal for sending an Indian astronaut to the Moon in 2008, the government today said.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), however, plans to launch an instrumented spacecraft - Chandrayaan-1 - in 2008 to orbit around the Moon, Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office, Prithviraj Chavan, told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

The approved cost of the Moon mission is Rs 386 crore, he said.

The objectives of the indigenous mission include high resolution imaging of lunar terrain and mapping of chemicals and mineralogical constituents over its surface.

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