India's outer space ambitions owe a significant debt to July 22, an important date for the history of the country's scientific and technological feats. It was on this date back in 2019 that Chandrayaan-2, India's second lunar exploration mission, was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) from the Satish Dhawan space centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. Ahead of its launch, the Chandrayaan-2 mission generated significant public interest and media coverage since it came 11 long years after Chandrayaan-1, India's first ambitious lunar probe under the same programme. Nevertheless, the Chandrayaan-2 mission was not a complete failure. Even though the lunar lander did not arrive on the surface of the Moon as intended, the spacecraft's orbiter operations remain functional.

Source: Hindustan Times July 22, 2021 02:16 UTC