Chandrayaan-1: The first time India ‘touched’ the Moon

At the time he raised this question, Dr Kalam was the President of India and the country’s most respected scientific mind.

Nair writes in his autobiographical work Rocketing Through the Skies: An Eventful Life at ISRO (2023), that this one simple question modified his entire perspective – giving birth to the concept of the Moon Impact Probe (MIP), carried aboard Chandrayaan-1.

As Chandrayaan-3 lands on the Moon today, we recall when India first “planted a flag” on the Moon.

India’s first foray to the Moon

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924-2018) announced India’s moon mission in his Independence Day speech in 2003. This would be India’s first foray outside Earth’s gravitational pull and the most challenging task undertaken by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) until then.

Five years after Vajpayee’s announcement, on October 22, 2008 a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) blasted off from Isro’s launch site at Sriharikota, beginning Chandrayaan-1’s journey to the moon. The PSLV initially placed Chandrayaan-1 on a high elliptical orbit around Earth. Over the next three weeks, the spacecraft carried out some highly complex, extremely precise manoeuvres to finally orbit the Moon.

“… after 21 days, Chandrayaan-1 dropped into an elliptical orbit around the Moon, where it was 500 km from the Moon at the closest point and 10,000 km away at the farthest,” Nair writes. After a couple of days of testing all equipment aboard the spacecraft, it was further lowered into a circular orbit around the Moon, at an altitude of 200 km.

India’s maiden attempt to put a spacecraft into a precise orbit around the moon was a complete success. But this was not enough.

The Moon Impact Probe

While Dr Kalam’s request seemed simple enough, the actual task of accommodating it was far from easy, as Madhavan Nair realised when he called a meeting of Isro scientists to discuss the topic.

“Some conservatives said that it was impossible to accommodate such a scheme at that late a stage within the tight budget and schedule constraints.,” he writes in his book.

But ultimately, some “youngsters” in Isro took the lead. The MIP, with the national flag inscribed on it, comprised three instruments – a mass spectrometer, a camera, and an altimeter. The probe itself was made of aluminium honeycomb, “making it quite robust”.

The idea was to drop the MIP near the lunar south pole – when the spacecraft would be at the intended location, Isro’s control centre would send a command, following which, computers onboard would carry out the operation to detach the MIP from the craft and send it hurtling towards the moon.

D-Day: India plants her flag on the Moon

The MIP was scheduled to be dropped on the lunar surface on November 14, 2008. An hour before this sequence was to be initiated, Dr Kalam entered Isro’s control room at Peenya, Bengaluru.

“I arranged spiced buttermilk – his favourite – for him and explained the details of the mission. He went around the newly built control room and appreciated the internal architecture as well as the sophisticated instrumentation,” Nair writes about Dr Kalam’s visit. “Dr Kalam was excited to see the most modern set-up and remarked that he felt as if he was in wonderland!”

At exactly 8.06 pm, the command to initiate the Moon impact sequence was transmitted to Chandrayaan-1. To commence the free fall, the velocity of the MIP was reduced by firing the small solid rocket attached to it.

“As we looked anxiously at the screens in the control room, the MIP descended on the Moon and finally impacted at a spot near the pole, beside the Shackleton crater,” Madhavan Nair writes in his book.

India enters an elite club of countries

The moment was the culmination of decades of hard work by Isro scientists. While its origins had definitely been humble, on November 14, 2008, Isro entered a league of elite space agencies in the world – that too at a fraction of a cost.

The Moon Impact Probe with the Indian flag inscribed. (Wikimedia Commons)

“The Indian flag on the MIP inscribed India’s presence on the Moon forever, heralding the nation’s entry into the elite club of the countries that had earlier placed national flags on the Moon (the USA, Russia and China),” Nair wrote.

As Madhavan Nair made it to the press box to tell the country about this monumental achievement, once again he was met by Dr Kalam.

“You, buddy, you have done it!” Dr Kalam told Nair. To the entire control room, he said: “’Today is a historic day as India has accomplished this fantastic mission. I congratulate each and every one of you!”

Before returning to New Delhi, however, he made a notable suggestion – to name the impact site after Pandit Nehru, on whose birthday the landing was made and whose vision was crucial to the creation of Isro. After receiving appropriate permissions from the government, the site was named “Jawahar Sthal”.