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India's first lunar mission blasts off SRIHARIKOTA, India, Oct 22 (AFP) Oct 22, 2008 India's first lunar mission blasted off from the national space centre on the southeastern coast early Wednesday. The unmanned lunar orbiting spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 was launched with an Indian-built rocket at 6:22 am (0052 GMT) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Chennai. Officials at the space centre said the launch had so far gone "according to plan." The Chandrayaan-1 is being sent on a two-year orbital mission to provide a detailed map of the mineral, chemical and topographical characteristics of the moon's surface, at a cost of 80 million dollars. India is hoping the mission will boost its space programme into the same league as regional powerhouses Japan and China. As well as looking to carve out a larger slice of the lucrative commercial satellite launch market, India, Japan and China also see their space programmes as an important symbol of their international stature and economic development. All rights reserved. copyright 2018 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.
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