It is India's first mission to the moon. Launched by India's national space agency the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The unmanned lunar exploration mission includes a lunar orbiter and an impactor. The spacecraft was launched by a modified version of the PSLV C11 on 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh at 06:23 IST (00:52 UTC). The vehicle was successfully inserted into lunar orbit on 8 November 2008.

The Moon Impact Probe was successfully impacted at the lunar south pole at 20:31 hours on 14 November 2008.

The remote sensing satellite had a mass of 1,380 kilograms at launch and 675 kilograms at lunar orbit and carries high resolution remote sensing equipment for visible, near infrared, and soft and hard X-ray frequencies. Over a two-year period, it is intended to survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and 3-dimensional topography. The Polar Regions are of special interest, as they might contain ice. The lunar mission carries five ISRO payloads and six payloads from other international space agencies including NASA, ESA, and the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency, which were carried free of cost

The Chandrayaan has become the golden feather to our INDIA, and also it has marked our first step towards Space Exploration. The NASA congratulated Indian scientists: "Congratulations to our Indian colleagues on the successful launch of the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, which is carrying two NASA instruments. India's first lunar mission will provide important insight."