India is on Moon with its Chandrayaan-3
India made history with its Chandrayaan-3 mission when it became the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the lunar south pole. It also joined an elite club of countries to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the US, the former Soviet Union and China.
As Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the lunar surface near the south pole, With the successful landing on the moon, India has become the fourth country to master the technology of soft-landing on the lunar surface Before India, the erstwhile Soviet Union, the United States, and China have all accomplished soft landings on the Moon and India joins elite space club.
The US was the first country to send men to the moon. The iconic moon landing took place on 21 July 1969. Millions around the world watched the landing on television; politics, war, famine and other news stories were pushed to the back of the queue as the world celebrated an outstanding example of human endeavour.
ISRO’s Chandrayaan-1 mission, despite its share of challenges and setbacks, left an indelible mark on lunar exploration by discovering water on the Moon’s surface. As we commemorate this discovery 14 years later, it stands tall as a testament to India’s pioneering contributions to space exploration.
While the lander of 2019 Chandrayaan-2 mission had failed to make a soft touchdown on lunar surface, its orbiter component is still in the lunar orbit and is helping to ensure the success of Chandrayaan-3. In fact, it has already played an important role in identifying a relatively safe landing spot for Chandrayaan-3.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India is now on the moon and the success of the lunar mission has sounded the bugle for the emergence of a developed nation.
India’s lunar mission began on October 22, 2008, which put a spacecraft in a 100 km circular orbit around the moon. The orbiter mission, which had a mission life of two years, was, however, prematurely aborted after communication with the spacecraft was lost on August 29, 2009.
Chandrayaan-2, comprising an orbiter, lander and rover, was successfully launched on July 22, 2019. The objectives of the country’s second mission to the Moon were scientific studies by payloads onboard the orbiter, and technology demonstration of soft landing and roving on the lunar surface. the spacecraft crash-landed on the moon on September 6, 2019, due to a software glitch.