Chandrayaan, big achievement for India: Kalam

Kochi, Nov 8 (UNI) Former president APJ Abdul Kalam today said the placing of 'Chandrayaan-1' spacecraft into lunar orbit was a ''big achievement'' for India.

Addressing a function here, Dr Kalam said Indian space scientists had been able to put 'Chandrayaan' into an orbit around the moon at around 1700 hrs.

''This is a big achievement for the space scientists and for the cantry,'' he added.

The Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft entered lunar orbit following the 817-second manoeuvre conducted by the scientists from ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Peenya in Bangalore city.

The exercise marked a historic event for the country as this was the first time that an Indian built spacecraft had broken away from the earth's gravitational field and reached the moon.

UNI ARC LPB NS2137