PM congratulates scientists for Chandrayaan's successful journey

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday congratulated scientists in the Indian Space Research Organization for successfully putting India's first unmanned moon mission Chandrayaan-1 into lunar orbit.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday congratulated scientists in the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for successfully putting India's first unmanned moon mission Chandrayaan-1 into lunar orbit.

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The prime minister, who arrived in Muscut on Saturday afternoon on a three-day visit to the Gulf, sent his congratulatory message after receiving the news.

Chandrayaan-1 has travelled more than 380,000 km in 12 days after its launch from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh Oct 22 to enter the lunar orbit on Saturday.

Soon after the launch at 6.22 am Oct 22, the spacecraft carrying 11 scientific payloads was put in an orbit of 22,860 km apogee (farthest point to the earth) and 225 km perigee (nearest point to the earth).