India Lands The Tricolor on The Moon - First Pictures

Saturday, 15th November 08, was a historic day for India as we succeeded in landing our first Lunar Probe on the surface of the Moon. India is now the fourth country to have joined the elite club of space-faring nations like the United States, Russia and Japan.

It is indeed a proud moment for our country and a great achievement. “The TV set-sized probe, painted in the green-white-and-orange colors of the Indian flag, made a "precise-to-the-second" landing on the lunar surface late Friday after being released from the unmanned moon-orbiting Chandrayaan-1 satellite”, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said.

All Indians rejoiced and hailed this milestone in India’s space history including the politicians, who for once buried their differences and united to call this event worthy of being recorded in Golden letters. Abdul Kalam, the former President, who conceived the moon impact probe (MIP) is ecstatic with the successful moon landing and hopes that this would fuel a dream in Children for the future and in 15 years he wanted to see an Indian on the Moon. Well, I am sure that day is not very far off.

Well, the results of the Moon Impact Probe landing on the surface of the Moon have begun to filter in with the first clear pictures of the Moon surface. Apparently, The images sent by the MIP will help ISRO determine landing sites for future missions, including that of Chandrayaan-2’s rover.

Photo of the lunar surface sent by Chandrayaan-1's MIP on November 14, 2008



Close-up photo of the surface of the moon sent by Chandrayaan-1's MIP

Photos Courtesy:
www.dancewithshadows.com/

Happy Children's Day - 14th November

Here is wishing all the kids a very "Happy Children's Day". Today, 14th of November is being celebrated as Children's day in India to remember fondly Chacha Nehru (Pdt. Jawaharlal Nehru)who was our first Prime Minister and was very fond of kids.

So how do you celebrate this day? Well, for one thing, the schools in India make this day special for all the kids by organizing some special functions in school. They will probably have a half-day at school so that they can come back home early and spend the rest of the day doing pretty much what they like.

This day is a wonderful opportunity for all the parents to spend some quality time with their kids. But, what about those poor kids who are orphaned or staying in foster homes? See if you can do something special for these kids too. Taking small gifts like used old toys, clothes, shoes, books etc can make a lot of difference to these kids. So, open out your hearts and donate generously today to the Children's institution that is near you.

There are several charitable NGO's that are helping the cause of Children like the CRY (Child Rights and You), and the Smile foundation in India.

http://www.cry.org/

http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

You can make a huge difference to the life of a child by just donating one rupee. Check out these sites and read all about their work and how you can help online. Another way to help out is by adopting a child and funding its education all the way to college. Bring a ray of hope to a child's life today.

Here are some links to other such charitable NGO's in India:

http://www.pratham.org/
http://www.aryagan.org/
http://www.cini-india.org/
http://www.childlineindia.org.in/

Children's Day Stamps

Children's Day is celebrated on 20th November in the rest of the world, but for India this day has been preponed to the 14th November to mark Pdt Jawaharlal Nehru's Birthday. Every year Indian postal service has been releasing new stamps to commemorate the Children's Day.