The Apollo 11 mission was the first manned mission to land on the moon. Launched on July 16,1969, it carried Mission Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, Jr. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon, while Collins orbited above. On July 24, 1969 landed on earth after 8 days 3 hours 18 minutes and 35 seconds. When Armstrong stepped off Eagle’s foot pad and into history as the first human to set foot on the another world, described it as “one small step for a man, one joint leap for mankind”.

India’s moon ‘fantasy’ was triggered in 1980s after Rakesh Sharma’s space flight aboard a Russian spacecraft. The study , though, was put on the back-burner since India did not have the launch capacity nor the money needed for a moon mission. The advent of PSLV( Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) and GSLV(Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) rocket launchers in the mid-to late 90s brought the moon dream back to the fore. The Chandrayan-1 mission, launched in October 2008, putting the spacecraft in an orbit around moon, became quite a success. Chandrayan-1 is the first Indian planetary science and exploration. Chandrayan -1 is a scientific- by spacecraft- of the moon. The scientific goal of Chandrayan-1 is to prepare a three dimension remote sensing of the lunar surface. It is there to conduct chemical and mineralogical mapping of the entire surface. Now,Indian Space Reaserch Organisation(ISRO)is planning second moon mission Chandrayan-2 plan of putting a rover to map the Earth’s Satellite by 2012 is very much on schedule. A man moon landing by an Indian is planned for 2025. This would put India in a very elite club. Of course, India is not the only country making all these lunar plans. Other space-faring nations, such as China and Japan are planning several missions involving unmanned and manned missions to moon in next decade and after.
The moon study had taken back seat for the past two decades but again it has come into prominence. Three main three reasons can be counted behind it. One, the moon can be a good parking place for missions to outer planets. Two, the Earth is getting overfilled and man would need an alternative place to live in. And the three, all the space- going nations want to survey the moon’s surface to explore for minerals and materials of value.