Notes:
India’s communication satellite CMS-01 was successfully launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The satellite was launched aboard the launch vehicle, PSLV-C50, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. The vehicle injected the satellite into its planned orbit. PSLV-C50 is the 52nd flight of PSLV and this was the 77th launch vehicle mission from SDSC SHAR.

Notes:
Chinese lunar capsule of the Chang’e 5 probe has returned to Earth with the first samples of rock and debris from the moon.
The modules of the probe landed on the moon and collected about 2 kilograms of samples by drilling the surface of the moon. After Soviet Union’s Luna 24 robot probe in 1976, only this probe brought fresh samples of lunar rocks.

Notes:
The Government of India has recently offered official recognition to Yoga as a competitive sport, as a push to make it a part of the Olympic Games.
Recently, India established the National Yogasana Sport Federation of India (NYSFI) for the development of yoga as a competitive sport. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Ministry of AYUSH are collaborating in this regard. Sporting Leagues and Competitions are being planned.

Notes:
An Astronomical Conjunction, which is the closer appearance of the heavenly bodies from the Earth’s perspective, is to occur on the night of December 21.
The planets will appear extremely close to each other, making them look like one bright dot in the sky. However, the actual distance from each other will be around 735 million kms. The planets were seen very close only in 1623.

Notes:
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch satellites of private players onboard PSLV C 51.
The first of its kind mission would launch an earth observation satellite ‘ANAND’, fully built by a start-up named Pixel India. Two more satellites named ‘SATISH SAT’’, built by ‘Space Kids India’, and ‘UNIT-SAT’, built by consortium of universities would also be sent.