In a giant leap for its space programme, India’s Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar south pole at 6.04 pm on Wednesday, propelling the country to an exclusive club of four and making it the first country to land on the uncharted surface.
With this touchdown on moon in second attempt in four years, India has become the fourth country to master the technology of soft-landing on the lunar surface after the US, China and the erstwhile Soviet Union.
Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 and its objectives are to demonstrate safe and soft-landing on the lunar surface, roving on the Moon, and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
India is now on the moon and the success of the lunar mission has sounded the bugle for the emergence of a developed nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday as Chandrayaan-3 landed successfully on the lunar surface.
“We are witness to the new flight of new India. A new history has been written,” Modi said while addressing ISRO scientists virtually from Johannesburg, and described the Chandrayaan-3 landing on the moon as the “first light of ‘Amrit Kaal’ and the ‘Amrit Varsha’ of success”.
The Rs 600 crore Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14 onboard Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM-3) rocket, for a 41-day voyage to reach near the lunar south pole.
