Chandrayaan I

This may happen perhaps once in a blue moon — the unusual sight of a spacecraft travelling on the road. India’s spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 sat sedately on a trailer as its historic Moon journey began on the Earth early Thursday morning amid the bustle of traffic. It was all quiet at 5.30 am at the ISRO Satellite Centre. The action began 15 minutes later. At 5.45 am, a local police unit arrived at the centre to ensure everything was smooth and clear for the trailer to drive out on to HAL Airport Road. Soon after, vehicles with ISRO engineers came in one by one. A pilot CISF vehicle and another armed vehicle then settled in. When all people and vehicles were in place, around 6 am, the trailer carrying the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft drove out of the centre accompanied by vehicles of engineering and security staff to begin its journey to Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.The drive to the main highway leading to Sriharikota too was smooth. As the trailer and the convoy proceeded on HAL Airport Road, most people and vehicles went about their business as usual. The trailer seemed like any another big truck. Not many seemed to be aware that it was carrying Chandrayaan-1, that would create India’s space history. The convoy maintained a speed of 10-15 km an hour all along HAL Airport Road before it reached a point where it headed off towards Sriharikota. The only aspect that made the trailer stand out was the armed guards behind. That would have at best evoked curiosity about what they were guarding with no way of knowing it was a spacecraft with Indian and international instruments. ISRO officials and engineers arranged for security while ensuring that too much attention was not drawn to the convoy. The convoy is expected to reach Sriharikota by Friday evening. The launch of the spacecraft is scheduled anytime after October 20.