India plants flag on moon

BANGALORE, India, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Chandrayaan-1 launched and landed its lunar probe Friday admitting India to the select group of countries that have put their hardware on the moon.

G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, announced that the Moon Impact Probe landed near the moon's south pole 25 minutes after detaching from the Chandrayaan orbiter, The Hindu reported. The probe has Indian flags painted on both sides.

"Just as we had promised, we have given India the moon," Nair said.

The landing was timed for the Indian Children's Day.

The probe is equipped with a radar altimeter, video imaging and a mass spectrometer and is designed to send back data on the lunar surface and to demonstrate soft landing techniques. Chandrayaan remains in a low orbit around the moon to map its surface and gather additional data.

Nair predicted that India could launch a manned mission to the moon within seven years.