Huge moment for India: Chandrayaan-3 soft-lands on Moon
India's moon mission was a roaring success as Chandrayaan-3 completed a successful soft-landing on the Moon's south pole
India broke out into celebrations as Chandrayaan-3 soft-landed on the lunar south pole at 6.04 pm on Wednesday (August 23) without any hiccups.
With this, India has joined the elite club of only three other countries — US, China, and the erstwhile Soviet Union — that have managed to soft-land on the lunar surface. More significantly, it became the first country to reach the uncharted south pole of Earth’s only natural satellite.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined in from South Africa as ISRO live-streamed the landing. The rough-braking and fine-braking phases went exactly as planned and the Lander Module touched down on the lunar south pole smoothly in the scheduled time.
Chandrayaan-3’s Lander Module, comprising the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover, arrived at the designated landing point around 5.44 pm, as ISRO had tweeted at 12.52 pm on Wednesday.
“All set to initiate the Automatic Landing Sequence (ALS). Awaiting the arrival of Lander Module (LM) at the designated point, around 17:44 Hrs. IST. Upon receiving the ALS command, the LM activates the throttleable engines for powered descent. The mission operations team will keep confirming the sequential execution of commands. The live telecast of operations at MOX begins at 17:20 Hrs. IST,” ISRO’s tweet read.
“We learnt our lessons from Chandrayaan-2,” said scientist Nambi Narayan. Scientific analyst Ravikumar said six types of updates were made from Chandrayaan-2. For instance, height adjusting techniques were updated in Chandrayaan-3, explained Ravikumar.
Chandrayaan-3 was ISRO’s second attempt in four years to soft-land a craft on the lunar surface. Chandrayaan-2 failed in the attempt in the final stages in 2019.
Live Updates
- 23 Aug 2023 3:25 PM IST
Prayers at temples, mosques, gurudwaras
People in several parts of Delhi on Wednesday held special prayers at temples, mosques, and gurudwaras for the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 lander module on the Moon.
Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, along with others, joined a special “Ardas” held at Bangla Sahib Gurudwara to pray for the success of the mission.
Nearly 150 girls of Al Jamiatul Islamia Islahul Banat madrassa at Mandoli were also part of a special prayer held there hours before the scheduled landing of the Chandrayaan lander.
The Vishu Hndu Parishad (VHP) organised a yajna at Sant Nagar Burari, praying for the success of India’s ambitious space project.
“We have unwavering faith that God will definitely listen to our collective prayer done with pure mind and special mantras of Vedas,” said Vimlesh Bansal, a Vedic scholar at Arya Samaj temple.
Delhi government school children also joined the nation in praying for the successful landing of the Chandrayaan lander by making special posters. (PTI) - 23 Aug 2023 3:21 PM IST
All for Chandrayaan: Americans join ‘havan’ at varsity
A delegation from an American university joined a “havan” conducted by a private university in Noida on Wednesday with prayers for the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3.
The havan started in the morning, with thousands of Amity University students and faculty members in attendance and will continue till the scheduled landing of Chandrayaan-3 at 6.04 pm, the varsity said in a statement.
“Balvinder Shukla, vice-chancellor of Amity University, Uttar Pradesh; Gurinder Singh, Group Vice-Chancellor, Amity Universities; and thousands of students prayed and offered aahuti in the sacred havan performed on the campus for the smooth and successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon,” the statement said.
“In addition, a delegation from Colorado State University in the US comprising Travis Maynard Sr Associate Dean, College of Business, CSU, US, and Stene Verhulst — Director — International Enrolment Centre, CSU, US, also offered prayers during the ceremony,” it added.
Similar prayers and havans for the success of the ambitious lunar mission have been carried out at various places in the country in the run-up to the landing of the Chandrayaan-3. (PTI) - 23 Aug 2023 3:17 PM IST
Haryana schools to live stream Chandrayaan-3 landing
Schools in Haryana will organise live streaming of Chandrayaan-3’ soft-landing on Wednesday evening to inspire students and boost their self-confidence, said state Education Minister Kanwar Pal.
He said all district education officers in the state have been instructed to open the schools from 5 pm to 6 pm on Wednesday. “Students of schools in Haryana will watch Chandrayaan-3’s soft landing on the Moon live. All district education officers have been instructed to open schools from 5 pm to 6 pm on Wednesday,” Pal said on X, formerly Twitter.
Commenting on India being at the cusp of scripting history, the minister said, “This is an achievement of our scientists. It is a big achievement for the nation and the world’s attention is on this. So, we want our students should catch the action live. When young students will watch it live, they will also feel inspired and it will also boost their self-confidence.” (PTI)
