Chandrayaan-3 LIVE: August 23 to be celebrated as 'National Space Day', says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded his address with a "Bharat Mata ki jai, Bharat Mata ki jai" chant at ISRO Control Centre in Bengaluru.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi from ISRO Control Centre, Bengaluru said, "The treasure of scientific knowledge that India has is hidden. In the golden age of freedom, this treasure has to be unearthed, research has to be done on it and the world has to be told. Our young generation has to give new dimensions to modern technology."

PM Modi said, "We need the blessings of Shakti to do any work successfully and our that Shakti is our 'Naari Shakti.' All of you watched that our women scientists played an important role in the Chandrayaan-3 mission. This Shiv Shakti point will motivate the next generation for the welfare of humanity."

PM Modi said, "I want to give a suggestion that ISRO should arrange a national hackathon with the Central and state governments. All of you know that India is a nation that has been studying space for a long time: Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

PM Modi while addressing at the ISRO centre named Chandrayaan-3 landning point 'Shivashkati' and the Chandrayaan 2 point 'Tiranga.' 

PM Modi while addressing said the touchdown point of Chandrayaan will be named Shivshakti 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing from ISRO Control Centre, Bengaluru said, "This is a new Bharat that spreads light across the world. The moment of touchdown is eternal for India, every Indian felt that victory was theirs."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the scientists at ISRO command centre in Bengaluru said, "This is today’s bharat on full blown display. This is that Bharat that thinks new. This is that bharat that spreads light across the world. India will lead the solutions for the world. I keep reliving every second before touchdown. That moment of touchdown is unforgettable. Moment of touchdown is eternal for india."
 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the crowd in Karnataka chanted, "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan, Jai Anusandhan." He said the picture which he saw at Bangalore, the same picture he saw in Greece and Johannesburg as well.

He added, "Its really surprising that you all are here and even kids are also here too early in the morning."

Before visiting the ISRO complex and congratulate the scientists over their achievement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to stop at Jalahalli Cross to interact with the people.

"It is a proud moment for us because this is a very big achievement...We are here to welcome PM Modi," excited locals who have gathered outside HAL Airport to catch a glimpse of PM Modi tell Republic.

People gather outside HAL airport in Bengaluru to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he will arrive there shortly after concluding his two-nation visit to South Africa and Greece. PM Modi will meet scientists of the ISRO team involved in Chandrayaan-3 Mission at ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network Mission Control Complex.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Bengaluru on Saturday morning to congratulate the team ISRO on the successful Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon. He is slated to spend an hour at the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) and greet scientists of the national space agency headquartered here.

On Wednesday evening as the Lander Module of Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully touched down on the lunar surface, Modi had joined the ISRO team at Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISTRAC virtually from Johannesburg, where he was attending the 15th BRICS summit.

According to BJP sources, party leaders and workers would welcome Modi at two places -- outside the HAL Airport and Jalahalli Cross, which is close to ISTRAC.

He had also flown down to Bengaluru on the night of September 6, 2019 to watch the planned touch down of Chandrayaan-2 mission's 'Vikram' lander. But in the early hours of September 7, barely minutes before it was slated to land, ISRO lost contact with the craft, just 2.1 km above the lunar surface.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Bengaluru to meet the ISRO scientists and congratulate them on the successful Moon landing of Chandrayaan 3. According to sources, the PM will land at 5:30 am at the Hindustan Aeronautics Airport (HAL) airport in Bengaluru from Athens, Greece where he is on a one-day visit. He is likely to spend an hour with ISRO scientists from 7 am to 8 am before leaving for New Delhi at 9 am. However, an official confirmation on PM Modi's itinerary is awaited. 

PM Modi's interest and fascination for space missions dates back to Chandrayaan 1, which was launched on October 22, 2008 and made the ground-breaking discovery of water molecules on the lunar South Pole. Back then, the PM, who was Gujarat's Chief Minister at the time, made a surprise visit to the Space Application Centre (SAC) in Ahmedabad after the mission's launch to congratulate the ISRO scientists. READ MORE

India’s third moon mission, Chandrayaan-3, was successfully launched onboard a Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM-3) rocket from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 2.35 pm on July 14. The mission has been developed with a budget of around Rs 615 crore and has a life span of one lunar day or 14 Earth days.

This is India’s second attempt at soft-landing robotic instruments on the lunar surface after the previous attempt, Chandrayaan-2, failed in 2019.

Back in 2008, ISRO gained much praise for the discovery of water on the Moon with Chandrayaan-1. Having 11 scientific payloads onboard, the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft made several orbits of the Moon before losing contact with ground control teams in August 2009. Then came Chandrayaan-2 which was launched on July 22, 2019, with the objective to make a soft landing on the lunar surface. 

In 2019, the country's second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 was only “partially successful” since the lander lost contact, in the last moments of the landing. The lander was at a distance of 2.1 km away when it made a hard landing on the surface of the moon. Following this, the then ISRO chief Sivan broke into tears. 

On September 7 morning at 1:50 AM when Vikram was scheduled to land, ISRO's Deep Space Antenna lost communication with Chandrayaan-2's lander- Vikram as it descended towards the lunar surface. The lander had descended from 30 km to 2km smoothly. During the final smooth braking stage, it had lost communication with Mission Control. Vikram was aimed at soft-landing on the moon, making India the fourth country to do so. Later, with the help of NASA, images of Vikram hard-landing on the lunar surface were found.

On August  24, India scripted history as it became the fourth country to make a soft landing on the Moon. 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. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually joined the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) control room from South Africa as India scripted history with Chandrayaan-3's successful landing on the moon. "India's successful Moon mission is not just of India's alone, but the success belongs to all of humanity," he added. 

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.

"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.

 India has achieved a successful lunar landing near the moon's south pole, an uncharted territory holding the promise of valuable frozen water and essential elements. This triumph underscores India's escalating expertise in space and technology. After a previous unsuccessful endeavor nearly four years ago, India has etched its name in history as the first nation to achieve a landing in the relatively unexplored south pole region of the moon. This achievement aligns India with the ranks of the United States (US), the Soviet Union, and China, who have also accomplished moon landings.

Remarkably, this victory comes just days following the unfortunate incident involving Russia's Luna-25, a spacecraft attempting a similar landing in the same lunar region. 

The world appeared to light up in elation as India fulfilled its lunar pursuit on Wednesday, with the remarkable Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander successfully landing on the Moon and creating history. Commemorating the glorious moment, Indians across the globe chanted slogans and applauded the feat in unison. 

In the American capital of Washington DC, members of the Indian diaspora assembled at the Embassy of India to watch the lander's journey to the Moon. In the UAE's Dubai, the Indian consulate shared glimpses of officials witnessing the historic moment on a large screen. 

"And touchdown! Witness moments that created history. #Chandrayaan3 is on the moon The #TirangaOnTheMoon is the first to be on the South side of the #Moon," the Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi exclaimed on X on Wednesday. The United Kingdom also celebrated the feat and congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the same. 

After his address to the nation following Chandrayaan-3's Moon landing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately contacted ISRO chief S Somanath and congratulated him for the success. Speaking to Somanath, PM Modi asked him to extend his greetings to the entire team and hoped to meet him in person soon. 

"Somanath ji, your name Somanath is connected to the Moon, and today your family members will also be very happy. From my side, many congratulations to you and your team. Convey my greetings to everyone, and hopefully soon I will be able to congratulate you in person. Many congratulations and good wishes," PM Modi said.  READ MORE

After the accomplishment of the historic landing of India’s spacecraft on the lunar surface, Chandrayaan-3 sent the first message from the moon. The Indian spacecraft messaged, addressing to the people of India, “India, I reached my destination and you too!”  The ISRO confirmed about the landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon surface and receiving of the message.

President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday said that the landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar surface was "truly a momentous occasion" which happens once in a lifetime and it has made the whole country proud.  After watching live telecast of moon landing of Vikram lander, Murmu conveyed her congratulatory video message to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and everyone associated with the Chandrayaan-3 mission. 

"There are days when history is made. Today with the successful moon landing of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, our scientists have not only made history but also remade the idea of geography. It is truly a momentous occasion. The kind of event that happens once in a lifetime making India proud. I congratulate ISRO and everybody involved in this mission and wish them greater accomplishments ahead," she said in the video message.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman S Somanath said that he is happy about following the tradition of accomplishing mission success on a tiny budget after the successful soft-landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar South Pole. Speaking exclusively to Republic, Somanath also lauded and congratulated the team involved in developing the mission and expressed his excitement for the future. 

When asked about his views on the successful Chandrayaan-3 landing, Somanath said, "It happened as planned, so we are very happy." The Vikram lander of the mission touched down near the lunar South Pole at 6:04pm IST after going through what was called '20 minutes of terror' during the Automatic Landing Sequence (ALS). READ MORE

 The entire mission operations of Chandrayaan-3, right from the launch till landing, "happened flawlessly" as per the timeline, the team that led India's third mission to the Moon said on Wednesday. They credited the combined effort of the entire team during the past four years for the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

"It's a great moment of happiness. On behalf of the team it gives me immense satisfaction on achieving this goal as the Project Director of the mission. The entire mission operations right from launch till landing happened flawlessly as per the timeline," Project Director of Chandrayaan-3 P Veeramuthuvel said.

With Chandrayaan 3's successful landing, India has become the first nation to register its presence on the south pole of the Moon and the fourth country to ever land a spacecraft on the lunar surface. However, the last five minutes before the landing was definitely an eye-catcher as ISRO began live-streaming, which was joined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Not only this but the citizens of the country gathered around televisions in offices, shops, restaurants and homes in a bid to witness India scripting history.  READ MORE

ISRO broke all live viewership records on YouTube on August 23 as millions tuned in to watch the Vikram lander touch down on the Moon's south pole. More than eight million people were watching ISRO's live stream, which began at 5:20 pm. The landing of Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander took place at 6:04 pm IST on a relatively flat region between the Manzius C and Simpelius N craters about 70 degrees south latitude on the Moon. 

With this new feat, ISRO broke the viewership record of YouTuber Casimiro who clocked in more than six million views during the 2022 FIFA World Cup quarterfinals match between Brazil and Croatia. 

After India's spacecraft made a flawless landing on the lunar surface on August 23 at 6:04 pm, former ISRO Scientist Nambi Narayanan on August 23 congratulated the ISRO team for landing on the uncharted South pole of the moon. The former ISRO scientist said that every failure of Chandrayaan-2 was made use of in favour of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. He also said that we (scientists) were confident that Chandrayaan-3 would be a success before its launch in July. 

"What we have achieved is something really unbelievable. Failure of Chandrayaan-2 was made use of in favour of Chandrayaan-3. We have used that failure in our favour. We were confident before the launch itself that the Chandrayaan-3 mission would be a success. This is a great day for ISRO and India and also mankind. When I say unbelievable, I mean with the kind of budget that we had, with the kind of other commitments that we had," former ISRO Scientist Nambi Narayanan said. 

S Somanath, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman congratulated his team on the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission and thanked everyone for their support. Speaking about the failure of the Chandrayaan-2 mission, the ISRO chief asserted that he had achieved success after learning a lot from failure.   

"ISRO is planning many missions in the coming days. Our immediate mission is Aditya L-1 which is a mission to especially study the corona of the sun. It is already integrated at Sriharikota and will be integrated with Rocket today or tomorrow and we are planning the launch on the first week of September. Everything is going as per the plan. The next mission, which we are planning is Gaganyaan by the end of September or at the beginning of October. We have GSLV mission-weather forecasting mission, another mission is PSLV which is scheduled now and SSLV-D3 mission, the third developmental flight. This is our plan for the next three months," said ISRO chief."

While addressing the briefing, the ISRO chief asserted that once the Pragyan rover comes out of the Vikram lander and touches the surface of the Moon, it will carry out two crucial experiments. He stated that in the next 14 days, the condition of the Vikram lander will be checked.

The ISRO chief further said, "Once the Pragyaan rover comes out there will be two important experiments that will be linked to the elemental and chemical composition of the surface of the moon. The first experiment will take place by using the laser beam from the rover on the material, it will fuse it and then generate some spectroscopic information which will identify the elements over there. Another experiment is related to the Alpha particle which will be emitted by Radioactive materials sitting there and that will generate certain X-ray fluorescence on the surface. And that will be measured to find the chemical composition". READ MORE

The global community applauded ISRO for its successful Chandrayaan-3 mission, which made India the first country to reach the South Pole of the Moon on Wednesday, August 23. A photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi reading the headline from South Africa's most influential daily newspaper 'The Star' was shared by Foreign Minister S Jaishankar. PM Modi was in Johannesburg, South Africa, when India achieved the historic milestone in space science, second only to the discovery of water on the Moon during its initial lunar mission.

The Foreign Minister tweeted, ”This morning at the BRICS Summit.”

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has released a new video of the Chandrayaan-3 moments before the successful touchdown on the Moon's surface. The historic event was captured by the lander's imager camera during Lander Modules-powered descent on August 23. The 2:17 minute-long video captured the view of the Moon, showcasing several craters as the lander was slowly reaching on the lunar surface.              

Taking to X (formally known as Twitter), ISRO shared the video and wrote "Here is how the Lander Imager Camera captured the moon's image just prior to touchdown." READ MORE

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Thursday congratulated Narendra Modi over the successful touchdown of Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar south pole and the prime minister asserted that this was a success for the entire humanity, particularly of the Global South.

Modi had a telephone conversation on Thursday with the President of the UAE, a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office said.

The President of the UAE warmly congratulated the prime minister and the people of India on the success of India's Chandrayaan-3 mission, it said. READ MORE

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) released the iconic video of Pragyan rover rolling down the ramp of the Vikram Lander captured by the Lander Imager Camera on Friday, August 25. With this feat India has demonstrated its roving capability on the moon's surface. The video is dated August 23, 2023, the historic day on which India successfully landed its probe near the moon’s south pole. 

India became the first country that landed close to the lunar south pole on Wednesday. Additionally, it emerged as the fourth country to land a probe - Chandrayaan-3 - on the surface of the moon, marking a watershed milestone in the nation's space progress. READ MORE