Moon men
Before 1999: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) discusses mission to moon in-house.
An open discussion was avoided as it did not fit into the immediate objectives of the organisation.
October 1999: Indian Academy of Sciences discusses proposed moon mission at annual meeting in Lucknow.
Though exploration of scientific opportunities are projected as the reason for the ambitious project, even establishment scientists admit the trigger was rumours that China was about to embark upon a similar programme and India needed to be in on the act.
June 2000: ISRO sets up a task force consisting mainly of insiders to study the feasibility of a moon mission.
Given the fact that scientists have become bored with routine rocket launches, the report unsurprisingly plumps for a lunar mission. The argument put out was that ISRO needed to present bright young scientists with greater challenges, since it could not match private sector salaries, to keep them in the organisation
July 2000: India gets an invitation to become member of International Lunar Exploration Working Group, a group of countries working on lunar exploration.
After lobbying hard, India gets into the international lunar club with the help of the European Space Agency (ESA).
April 2001: A parliamentary standing committee approves the mission.
Logic: Mission will help shrug off the technological plateau that the Indian space programme has hit.
April 2003: India approaches ESA for technical help. ESA agrees to fly improved versions of three Smart-1 payloads on Chandrayaan-1
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