Chandrayaan-3 success of entire humanity, particularly of Global South: PM Modi to UAE president

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.

Prime Minister Modi thanked him for this warm gesture and noted that the success of Chandrayaan is a success of the entire humanity, particularly of the Global South, the statement said.

Prime Minister Modi also conveyed that he looks forward to welcoming him to India next month for the G20 Summit, it added.

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 the Moon after a flawless 41-day voyage to script history and less than a week after a Russian lander headed to the lunar south pole crashed, India became the fourth country to master the technology of soft-landing on the Moon after the US, China and erstwhile Soviet Union.