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Only days after a similar Russian lander crashed, an Indian spacecraft made history on Wednesday by becoming the first to touch down on the moon’s rough, uncharted south pole. The mission is important for lunar exploration and India’s position as a space power.
“This moment is unforgettable. It is phenomenal. This is a victory cry of a new India,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in attendance at the BRICS meeting, which brings together Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, waved the Indian flag as he watched the plane arrive in South Africa.
After the spaceship touched down, scientists and officials clapped, cheered, and hugged one another. Then, in all of India, people burst into celebration, setting off firecrackers and dancing in the streets.
After the United States, China, and the erstwhile Soviet Union, India is now the fourth country to safely land a spacecraft on the moon, according to S. Somanath, head of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Images from the spacecraft that show the moon’s surface as well as the lander’s leg and shadow were released by ISRO.
A landing at the south pole is challenging due to the rough terrain, but ice there could provide fuel, oxygen, and water for upcoming missions.
A greeting to Modi from Russian President Vladimir Putin that was posted on the Kremlin website praised India.
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A Triumph Amidst Luna-25 Setback
William Nelson, the administrator of NASA, praised the ISRO for the landing.
India made its second attempt to land a spacecraft on the moon with this mission, which took place less than a week after Russia’s Luna-25 mission ended in failure. When the spaceship reached the surface, viewers across the nation prayed while glued to their televisions.
Sanskrit and Hindi translations of Chandrayaan are “moon vehicle” The orbiter on ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 mission in 2019 was successfully launched, but the lander collapsed.
Chandrayaan means “moon vehicle” in Sanskrit and Hindi. On the 2019 ISRO Chandrayaan-2 mission, the orbiter was launched successfully, however, the lander disintegrated.
Somanath claims that India also plans to dispatch a probe to study the sun in September. Although there is no specified deadline, preparations for a manned space mission have to be finished by 2024.
It is believed that the landing will enhance India’s reputation for affordable space engineering. Less money was spent on the Chandrayaan-3’s launch than was used to make the 2013 Hollywood space thriller “Gravity” which cost roughly 6.15 billion rupees ($74 million).
Read Next: Chandrayaan-3: India’s Vikram Lander Aims for Historic Landing at Moon’s South Pole
Source: US News
