New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scripted history as Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft made a soft landing in the lunar south pole region on Wednesday. With this, India joins an elite club of countries to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the US, the former Soviet Union and China.
The Vikram lander from Chandrayaan-3 successfully touched down as planned at 18:04 PM IST.
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- “This is a victory cry of new India,” said PM Modi, who watched the final moment before touchdown from Johannesburg where he is attending the BRICS summit.
- “India is on the moon,” S. Somanath, chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said as the Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander made a “soft landing” on the lunar surface.
- The successful landing comes just days after Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon after losing control.
- Notably, the ‘Vikram’ lander module of the spacecraft successfully separated from the propulsion module on Thursday, and subsequently underwent crucial deboosting manoeuvres and descended to a slightly lower orbit. The Chandrayaan-3 mission’s lander is named after Vikram Sarabhai (1919–1971), who is widely regarded as the father of the Indian space programme.
- It has been a month and eight days since the Indian Space Research Organisation launched the Chandrayaan-3 mission on July 14. The spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota.
- The stated objectives of Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission, are safe and soft landing on the lunar surface, rover moving on the moon’s surface, and in-situ scientific experiments.
- With this, India became the fourth country in the world to land on the moon after the United States, the former Soviet Union, and China, but India also became the only country in the world to land on the lunar south pole.
- Chandrayaan-3’s development phase commenced in January 2020, with the launch planned sometime in 2021. However, the Covid-19 pandemic brought an unforeseen delay to the mission’s progress.
- Notably, the Chandrayaan-1 mission discovered the presence of water on the surface of the Moon, which was a new revelation for the world and even the premier Space agencies like the USA’s NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) were fascinated by this discovery and used the inputs for their further experiments.