'1.3 bn people are looking to the heavens'

The successful launch of the India's maiden mission to moon Chandrayaan-1 is 'just the beginning' of the opening up of a new frontier of cooperation between the US and India on a wide range of sectors, the United States India Business Council said on Wednesday.

Chandrayaan-1 lifts off successfully

"It is an extraordinary moment in history. We have an India of 1.3 billion people looking to the heavens and now exploring the frontiers of Space," USIBC president Ron Somers told PTI upon the launch of Chandrayaan-1.

The lift off of Chandrayaan-1 was lustily cheered at the US Chamber of Commerce where the USIBC had organised a live broadcast of the historic occasion that saw the participation of officials from the White House, the State Department, the NASA and senior officials of the Indian Embassy.

The USIBC event also saw the participation of the Indian American community who were clearly thrilled.

"It is a great day in our history. I think it will beckon a whole new era in technological cooperation between our countries," Somers said.

"In this Chandrayaan-1 launch we have Raytheon Technology supported by NASA. This is just the beginning of opening up a new frontier together and exploring the main technological cooperation across a range of sectors," he said.

"American cooperation in India's first unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 marks the beginning of a new era or trust and partnership between the two countries in the field of space science," said Ambassador Arun Kumar Singh, the new Deputy Chief of the Indian Mission in Washington DC.

"The inclusion of two US instruments on this spacecraft has provided further fillip to Indo-US cooperation in the space arena that dates  back to the very beginning of the Indian space programme. The very first sounding rocket, a Nike Apache was launched from Thumba on November 21, 1963," Singh added.