India's Space Race

India launched its first lunar mission Wednesday, with hopes of achieving high-resolution images of the moon's topography and diving into the international space race.The Chandrayaan-1 will orbit around the moon on a two-year mission.

The Chandrayaan-1 will orbit around the moon on a two-year mission.

The launch of the unmanned lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1, or "moon craft" in ancient Sanskrit, came at 6:20 a.m. Wednesday (8:50 p.m. ET) from the Sriharikota space center.

The two-year mission seeks high-resolution imaging of the moon's surface, especially the permanently shadowed polar regions, ISRO said. It will also search for evidence of water or ice and attempt to identify the chemical breakdown of certain lunar rocks, the group said.

ISRO on its Web site said the mission would lay the groundwork for future lunar missions and "probe the physical characteristics of the lunar surface in greater depth than previous missions by other nations."

"It will also give us a deeper understanding about the planet Earth itself or its origins," a statement on the Web site said. "Earlier missions did not come out with a full understanding of the moon and that is the reason scientists are still interested. This will lay the foundation for bigger missions and also open up new possibilities of international networking and support for planetary programs."

The United States and the Soviet Union dominated the field of lunar exploration from the late 1950s. The United States is preparing for its own mission slated for next spring -- the first U.S. lunar mission in more than a decade, according to NASA.

Soviet spacecraft were the first to fly by, land on and orbit the moon -- Luna 1, launched on January 2, 1959, sped by the moon two days later.

Luna 2 was launched on an impact mission on September 12, striking the surface two days later. Luna 9, launched January 31, 1966, was the first craft to successfully land on the moon and send back data, touching down on the surface on January 31, 1966, and transmitting until February 3 when its batteries ran out.

Luna 10 was launched March 31, 1966, entered lunar orbit on April 3 and operated for 56 days.
But the United States' Apollo missions were the first manned missions to reach the moon, culminating with six missions that set down on the surface. The first, Apollo 11, left earth on July 16, 1969, and landed astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin on the lunar surface on July 20 while command module pilot Michael Collins orbited above. The astronauts returned safely to earth on July 24.

Most recently China and Japan, put lunar orbiters in place. China launched Chang'e mission on October 24, 2007, just weeks after Japan launched the Kaguya orbiter.