India has successfully launched its first mission to the Moon today. The unmanned Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft took off without a hitch from the launch pad in southern Andhra Pradesh. The craft was embarking on a two -year mission that will see the robotic probe orbiting the Moon to investigate the distribution of elements and minerals.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hailed the launch as “the first step” in India’s fledgling space programme. India has big hopes for its space programme, hoping to put the first Indian in space by the year 2014 and to launch a manned lunar mission by 2020. The Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft, the first step in India’s ambitious space programme, is expected to cost an estimated £45 million.

The fact that India can embark on such an ambitious, and expensive, space programme whilst millions of her own people are living well below the poverty line has raised some international eyebrows. And the people of Britain may be justified in the odd bit of head scratching when one considers that in January of this year, Gordon Brown gave India £825 million in foreign aid.

The aid package, to be spread over three years, has allocated £500 million to health and education. This generous amount will facilitate the building of 300,000 new classrooms and fund 300,000 new teachers.

The Save the Children charity remarked that the aid package must reach India’s children: “There is a real need to examine how children are looked at in a country that allocates less than 5% of its GDP to children, despite the fact they make up almost 40% of the population.”

One wonders how much of India’s GDP will be allocated to the space programme. Or indeed maintaining its nuclear weapons programme. It is estimated that India has 200 nuclear warheads, 75% of which are assembled whilst the remaining quarter are in sub-assembled position. It is believed that India is looking to expand its nuclear capability in the future.