"Chanda mama door ke nhi ek tour ke", says PM Modi as Chandrayaan-3 soft lands on Moon

"India's successful Moon mission is not just of India's alone, but the success belongs to all of humanity," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi who virtually witnessed the successful soft-landing of Chandrayaan-3 from South Africa. Prime Minister who is attending the BRICS summit in South Africa's Johannesburg stated that his heart was always with the mission despite being part of a crucial meet. Notably, India has become the first country to land on the lunar South Pole with its third moon mission.

'Chanda mama door ke nhi ek tour ke...'

Congratulating on the success and hailing the efforts of the ISRO scientists, PM Modi termed the historic moment the dawn of new India. "No country has reached there (the South Pole of the moon) before. With the hard work of our scientists we have reached there," he added.

PM Modi further said that from now onwards, the stories related to the moon are going to change and proverbs for the upcoming generation will also change. 

"In India, we all refer to Earth as mother and Moon as Mama. Kabhi kaha jata tha chanda mama bahut door ke hain, ab ek din wo bhi aayega jab bacche kaha karenge chanda mama bass ek tour ke hain." (There was a time when we used to say that Moon is far aware but now that day is not far when the children will say Moon is just a tour away), he added.

"Humne dharti par sankalp kiya aur chand pe usse sakaar kiya (We made the promise on earth and fulfilled it on the moon". India is now on the Moon," said PM Modi.

Taking to X (formally known as Twitter), ISRO informed 'Chandrayaan-3 has successfully soft-landed on the moon'. Within 15 minutes, the post garnered 1.9 million views, 98.9k reposts, 231 thousand likes and counting. 

Chandrayaan-3 soft lands on the Moon's South Pole 

At 06:04 pm on Wednesday, August 23, 2023, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully landed its Vikram Lander on Earth's only natural satellite. The landing is a culmination of years of planning and makes India one among only four nations that have made soft-landings on the moon. The others being the United States, Russia (the Soviet Union when it landed on the Moon) and China. The landing of Chandrayaan-3 is a poignant redemption. 

Chandrayaan-3 was launched into space on July 14, 2023. The journey has been arduous. Initially, it was anticipated that the Russian Luna-25 would make a soft-landing on the moon before Chandrayaan-3. But that was not to be. The Russian spacecraft crashed into the Moon ending Roscosmos' hopes to be the first space agency to land on the south pole. This in turn meant that if Chandrayaan-3 landed successfully, it would make ISRO the only space agency to have managed the feat. 

Now on the moon's south pole, a side panel of the lander Vikram will unfold and create a ramp for Pragyan -- the rover. Pragyan will touch the Moon's surface around four hours after landing. After which, for the next 14 days -- one lunar day -- it will take pictures and collect data moving at a speed of one centimetre per second. The stated purpose of Chandrayaan-3 is to demonstrate safe, soft-landing on the moon, rover movement and then conduct in-situ scientific experiments. The first objective having been realised, it's now up to Chandrayaan-3 to deliver on the other two.