The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) recently announced that its Chandrayaan-1 orbiter officially entered its first lunar transfer trajectory. Many believe the launch was a planned response to China’s latest spacewalk mission.
A transfer trajectory is a low-energy maneuver that sets spacecrafts into the gravitational pull of celestial bodies. ISRO is displaying this picture of the Chandrayaan-1 undergoing pre-launch tests and this picture of the orbiter launching on its website.
The director at the India Space Agency, Manmohan Singh, made it clear in comments to Reuters that the move was partially directed at China. “China has gone earlier,” he said, “but today we are trying to catch them, catch that gap, bridge the gap.”
Representing the United States’s response to the mission, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released this statement in 2006 to assure India of its intention to cooperate. In the statement, NASA also announced its aim to have two of its own “scientific instruments on India’s maiden voyage to the moon.
Many are less enthusiastic about India’s space progress. Bharat Karnad, an Indian strategic affairs analyst, told the New York Times that the mission was a “misuse of resources that this country [India] can ill afford at this point.”
India and China both plan to launch manned moon missions within a decade. Their recent and future cosmic developments represent steps in their space race to international prestige, scientific superiority and self-reliance.
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Below I’ve left paragraphs that have errors or changes. For style or mechanical errors, I’ve simply made the fix; you can determine what the error is by comparing it with the original in your post. For other errors, I’ve put a message in brackets. –RB Grade = 2 [SEVERAL MINOR MECHANICAL ERRORS]
The Indian Space Research Organization recently announced that its Chandrayaan-1 orbiter entered its first lunar transfer trajectory. Many believe the launch was a planned response to China’s latest spacewalk mission.
A transfer trajectory is a low-energy maneuver that sets spacecraft [THIS WORD, LIKE DEER, HAS THE SAME SINGULAR AND PLURAL FORM] into the gravitational pull of celestial bodies. THE SPACE ORGANIZATION is displaying this picture of the Chandrayaan-1 undergoing prelaunch tests, and this picture of the orbiter launching on its WEB SITE.
The director at the India Space Agency, Manmohan Singh, made it clear in comments to Reuters that the move was partially directed at China. “China has gone earlier,” he said, “but today we are trying to catch them, catch that gap, bridge the gap.”
Representing the United States’ response to the mission, NASA [SEE AP] released this statement in 2006 to assure India of its intention to cooperate. In the statement, NASA also announced its aim to have two of its own “scientific instruments on India’s maiden voyage to the moon.[WHERE'S THE END QUOTE?]
Many are less enthusiastic about India’s space progress. Bharat Karnad, an Indian strategic affairs analyst, told THE New York Times that the mission was a “misuse of resources that this country [India] can ill afford at this point.”