“It has a huge symbolic value apart from being a tremendous scientific achievement,” said Mylswamy Annadurai, mission director of Chandrayaan-I. “We are literally over the moon,” he told The Indian Express. “But there is still a lot of science left in Chandrayaan. The real scientific experiments start now.” The spacecraft, which is now left with 10 payloads, will continue in its present circular orbit for the next two years and carry out a variety of scientific experiments. These include testing the possibility of presence of water on the moon’s surface, mineral mapping of the lunar terrain and details about the presence of Helium-3.
If the sense of joy at ISRO’s Telemetry Tracking and Command Centre was overwhelming, so was the tension as the clock pushed past 8 pm. Giant screens across the room streamed in various health parameters for the probe — including temperatures and data transfer rate.
Former President A P J Abdul Kalam, who had proposed the idea of landing a probe on the moon when ISRO had been hesitant, was present, next to Nair.
At 8.06 pm, the command centre transmitted orders to the spacecraft to initiate the process of separating the probe. Within 10 minutes, smiles began appearing around the room as the first signs came in of the MIP being on course to putting the Indian flag on the moon’s surface.

Sharada Swamy Rao, Gauri Monga and Renuka Philip, winners of the Bronze, Gold and Silver Handicap titles respectively in the Souther Indian Ladies Amateur Open golf which concluded in Bangalore on Friday.