Indian Moonraker Joining the Space Race

الهند تطلق مركبة فضائية نحو القمر

India joins the space race with its first moon mission. There will be further launches to prepare a moon landing in 2011.

An Indian scientist from Delhi University stresses the importance of that project in the frame of its economic aspects, namely when it comes to the subject of future energy resources. Thus, the 80 million U.S.$ spent for the actual mission could turn out to be a profitable investment. [Al-Jazeera, English programme]. The Arabic programme of Al-Jazeera is also dedicated to that subject:

"Behind the News"

ماوراء الخبر

Destination Moon - 登上月球

According to Beijing's People's Daily online, the Indian space project is putting pressure on China's own project of a moon landing within the next years. Here's a shortcut of the Chinese article:
After a journey of ten days the Indian spaceship "Chandrayaan-I" is expected to launch an experimental module to the moon's surface. As that module is containing an Indian flag, India would become the fourth nation to plant its flag on the moon, following the United States, Russia and Japan. Kapil Sibal, India's minister for science and technology, called this "a moment of national pride" while the chairman of India's space research organisation, K. Kasturirangan, defended the cost of 80 million U.S.$ involved by that mission.