On October 3, Mylswamy Annadurai, the mission director, Chandrayaan-1, is visibly tense. The spacecraft, moved out the previous day from the laboratories of the isro Satellite Centre in Bangalore, is being transported at 20 kmph by road to the spaceport in Sriharikota, some 300 km away. Annadurai is tense because a local newspaper has gone and splashed the picture of the convoy on its front page. He now fears for its safety: "We did not want this sort of publicity. If something happens to the spacecraft, it will be very painful. Given the times we live in, anything can happen. All the hard work that we have put in will go down the drain. And our image will go for a toss internationally." Even as he is expressing anxiety, Annadurai is planning his trip to Sriharikota that evening. Like an anxious parent, he can't wait to be reunited with the satellite, with which he has spent an average of 16 hours every day over the last four years, during which it was put together. In the last three months, the pace of work has become frenetic, with his team of around 400 working round the clock, in three shifts. The moon mission is a first-of-its-kind project for isro, involving people across different space agencies, continents and time zones. Big players like nasa, the European Space Agency (esa) and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences are hitching a ride on our vehicle (pslv-c11) to the moon, and of the 11 scientific instruments on the satellite, six belong to foreign space agencies and five to India. "The expectations have gone up because of foreign participation," says Annadurai, who recalls how the decision was taken. When the moon mission was being planned four-and-a-half years ago, the big question was whether or not it should take on board US and European instruments. Some thought this might end up hijacking the mission out of India's control. But Annadurai successfully argued for their inclusion: "I said please give me an opportunity to lead the teams from US and Europe. This will enhance the prestige of isro. They agreed. Today, as the satellite is on the way to the port, I feel the nervousness of an opening batsman." A multitude of ancillary tasks occupy Annadurai before he leaves for Sriharikota