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‘Countdown to History’ — USIBC Celebrates India’s Maiden Mission to the Moon

Written by thomas · Filed Under Aeronautics News 

October 22, 2008

thomas

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — With the lights turned
low at the prestigious U.S. Chamber of Commerce, with juice and snacks
amply distributed among more than a hundred U.S. industry representatives,
joined by government leaders from both the United States and India, all
eyes looked to the heavens and to the “live video feed” from Sriharikota on
the coast of Andhra Pradesh as Chandrayaan I readied for the countdown to
begin that would launch India on its first mission to the moon, making
history.

The U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) for more than a year has been
looking forward to celebrating this momentous occasion, as India — host to
the fifth most advanced space program in the world — sought to achieve
this historic milestone.

India’s Deputy Chief of Mission Ambassador Arun Kumar Singh
congratulated India’s scientific community, and commented on the benefits
of technology collaboration between all free democracies to pursue
discovery in the frontier of space, and how such partnership will
facilitate access to technology across all sectors, benefitting all
mankind.

Referring to an earlier time, when President John F. Kennedy inspired
an entire generation in the 1960s, Ron Somers, President of the U.S.-India
Business Council, recalled President Kennedy’s words about the important of
space exploration: President Kennedy said ‘It is one of the great
adventures of all time…and no Nation which expects to be the leader of
other nations can expect to stay behind in the race to space.’

Chandrayaan I — as the Indian lunar mission is called — will carry a
scientific payload to the moon furnished by NASA and powered by India’s
massive Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. A collaboration joining Indian and
American scientists, the Chandrayaan I Lunar Mission will enable experts
from both countries to answer questions about the moon’s origin and

geological development — as well locate resources, including water.

“This unique technology partnership in civil space exploration, which
taps India’s highly skilled scientific expertise with American
instrumentation furnished by Raytheon, beckons what we hope will be a long
and mutually beneficial relationship promoting the opening of the frontier
of outer space,” Ron Somers said.

The U.S.-India Business Council, formed in 1975 at the request of the
Government of India and the U.S. Government to deepen two-way trade and
promote U.S.-India commercial ties, is the premier business advocacy
organization representing 280 of the largest U.S. companies investing in
India, joined by two dozen of India’s largest global companies. USIBC is
hosted under the aegis of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — the world’s
largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and
organizations of every size, sector and region.

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