Former president A P J Abdul Kalam, who visited the Indian Deep Space Network and the giant antenna at Byalalu village near Bangalore on Saturday, said that every Indian should be proud of the space researchers who made the launch of Chandrayana- I, the country’s first unmanned lunar spacecraft, a successful attempt.

Dr. Kalam expressed his aspiration to see an Indian researcher land on the moon by 2021.

He told a gathering of senior scientists, “I would be 90 years old then.”

G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) presented Mr. Kalam with the first photographs of the earth sent by the Chandrayaan-I from an altitude of 70,000 km.

While talking to mediapersons, Dr. Kalam, who is closely associated with the country’s space programmes, said, “They are good pictures. They are high-resolution pictures.”

“The photographs are indicative of what things hold for us in future,” he added.

He also said that November 8, the day when Chandrayaan leaves the Earth’s gravity and enters the moon’s orbit, will be the next landmark for the mission.