India has successfully launched its first unmanned mission to the moon. Indian officials say the Chandrayaan-One spacecraft blasted off from a launch pad in Sriharikota near the southeastern city of Chennai early Wednesday.
The head of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), G. Madhavan Nair called the launch the start of a "remarkable journey." He told reporters the mission is going according to plan, as scientists applauded the televised liftoff.
Indian officials say the two-year mission of Chandrayaan-One is to map the surface of the moon and what lies beneath it, using modern equipment for the first time. The spacecraft should settle into lunar orbit in a little over two weeks.
A few days later, it will launch a small probe to the moon's surface to collect dust samples. India hopes to follow the path of its Asian rivals, Japan and China, who already have spacecraft in orbit around the moon. Indian officials put the cost of this mission at 79 million dollars.
They say the mission will lay the groundwork for future Indian space expeditions. India, which started its first space program in 1963, has previously announced plans to send an astronaut into space by 2014 and a manned mission to the moon by 2020.
Scientists say most of the moon maps currently in use were made during the U.S. Apollo space program some 40 years ago.