At 06:22 IST Wednesday morning India successfully launched its first lunar spacecraft, Chandrayaan-1.  Riding on top of a PSLV-11C rocket the spacecraft was inserted in a orbit around the Earth, before it will start its trip towards the Moon. It will be inserted in a Moon orbit in two weeks, and then gradually lower its final altitude to 100 km.

When the final orbit is reached Chandrayaan-1′s main task will be to:

• To place an unmanned spacecraft in an orbit around the moon
• To conduct mineralogical and chemical mapping of the lunar surface
• To upgrade the technological base in the country

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