The Indian Space Research Organisation plans to launch its $141m, unmanned Chandrayaan-2 craft, second lunar mission in the coming days, aiming for it to land near the Moon's unexplored south pole on 6 or 7 September – around five years before a manned US expedition. India successfully test-fired an anti-satellite weapon in March, which Modi said demonstrated the country's capacity as a space power alongside the United States, Russia and China. India's space agency has been working with Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and other international partners since 2009 to develop an orbiter, called Mangalyaan (Hindi for "moon lander"), that would
The Indian Space Research Organisation plans to launch its $141m, unmanned Chandrayaan-2 craft, second lunar mission in the coming days, aiming for it to land near the Moon's unexplored south pole on 6 or 7 September – around five years before a manned US expedition. India's space agency has been working with Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and other international partners since 2009 to develop an orbiter, called Mangalyaan (Hindi for "moon lander"), that would