India on Wednesday announced successful moon mission as Chandrayaan-3 made soft landing on the Moon's south pole as planned.
The Indian Space Research Organisation said today that the moon mission successfully made a soft landing today evening at 6:4 PM local time. ISRO Chief Somnath said: "We have achieved soft landing on moon. India is on the Moon", as Chandrayaan-3 made soft landing as planned. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the ISRO scientists and the people of the country on the occasion.
Modi participated virtually in the celiberation from South Africa where he is on a visit to attend the five-nation BRICS Summit. "I heartily congratulate ISRO, its scientists for this unprecedented feat. I may be in South Africa but my heart has always been with Chandrayaan mission," Modi said. "No other country has been able to land on this side of moon before; this will change all narratives and stories about moon. We are witness to the new flight of new India. New history has been written," he added.
With the successful moon mission, India joined an elite club that have so far achieved controlled lunar landing along with the US, China and the USSR and also became the first country to reach the South Pole. India launched the Chandrayaan-3 on July 14 and it completed several stages in 43 days before making the successful soft landing today. The ISRO had failed in a similar lunar mission in 2019 as the scientists had lost connection with Chandrayaan-2 just before its proposed soft landing. India is celebrating the moon mission as the authorities had given instructions to schools and educational institutions to make necessary arrangements to witness the moon landing.
The ISRO office in Bangalore also saw moments of joy as the weeks long mission came to a happy ending. ISRO chief thanked his team and promised to work for higher goals in space sector. Russia had failed recently in a similar mission to soft land in moon.
Source: Kuwait News Agency
