PM Modi Recalls The Night Of Chandrayaan Mission Setback: 'Failure Is Mine'

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi , in his first ever podcast appearance with Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath, shed light on the sequence of events that occurred in the aftermath of the Chandrayaan-2 mission setback. 

In the podcast, the Prime Minister was asked to share some of his own personal experiences on how one can “learn more from failures than success" a statement the Prime Minister has repeatedly made in the past. 

Here’s What Prime Minister Said

“The day Chandrayaan 2 was going to be launched, many people told me that you should not go there ( ISRO Headquarters). I asked them why. They told me that there is a lot of uncertainty factor, and every country in the world has failed. They succeed only after 4-6 attempts,” PM Modi said. 

Highlighting that he went ahead with the programe as it was a part of his responsibility, the Prime Minister said, “I went there, and Chandrayaan crashed at the very last moment. Everyone there got worried, and no one had the courage to inform PM about it, but I could sense that something was wrong.”

‘Could Not Sleep’

Prime Minister Modi further said that the moment he got to know about the mission failure, he decided to meet ISRO scientists the very next day. 

“I could not sleep. I told them if they (scientists) are not tired, then I want them to meet all of them at 7 am the next day before I leave because it was a setback for the whole country. I told all scientists that the mission's failure is mine. I told them not to be disappointed. I kept them motivated, and Chandrayaan 3 got successful,” PM Modi said in the podcast.

Notably, on August 23, 2023, India achieved a historic milestone when the Chandrayaan-3 lander completed a soft landing on the moon. With this remarkable accomplishment, India became the fourth country to accomplish this feat and the first to land on the lunar South Pole.

Watch PM Modi's Podcast With Zerodha's Nikhil Kamath