"The tricolor has landed," proclaimed the Hindustan Times as a box shaped probe painted in India's saffron, white and green flag crash landed on the moon's south pole.
The probe sent from the orbiting mother spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 (moon craft) took pictures and gathered other data for a future moon landing. The Indian flag is likely scattered over the moon's Shackleton crater after the probe slammed into the surface at more than 3,000 miles per hour.
India joins the U.S., Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China in sending missions to the moon. India will follow the mission by landing a rover on the moon in 2011 and, eventually a manned space program. | |
