Chandrayan Roket:

Chandrayaan-1 was launched on 22 October 2008 at 6.22 am IST from Satish Dhawan Space Centre using ISRO's 44.4 metre tall four-stage PSLV launch rocket, and it took 21 days to reach final lunar orbit. ISRO's telemetry, tracking and command network (ISTRAC) at Peenya in Bangalore, will track and control Chandrayaan-1 over the next two years of its life span.[33]

Chandrayaan-1 was sent to the Moon in a series of orbit-increasing manoeuvres around Earth instead of a direct shot to the Moon.[34] At launch the spacecraft was inserted into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) with an apogee of 22,860 km and a perigee of 255 km. The apogee was increased with a series of five orbit burns conducted over a period of 13 days after launch.[34]

First orbit burn

The first orbit-raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft was performed at 09:00 hrs IST on 23 October 2008 when the spacecraft’s 440 Newton Liquid Engine was fired for about 18 minutes by commanding the spacecraft from Spacecraft Control Centre (SCC) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) at Peenya, Bangalore. With this Chandrayaan-1’s apogee was raised to 37,900 km, and its perigee to 305 km. In this orbit, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft took about 11 hours to go around the Earth once.[35]