Chandrayaan-3 Moon Landing: India on Wednesday wrote its name in history books as Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander made a successfully soft landing on Moon’s south pole. The spacecraft landed on the lunar south pole at 6:04 PM IST. Notably, this was India’s second attempt to make a landing on Moon’s south pole. India’s previous attempt to land on the lunar south pole failed in 2019.
Indian sporting stars including cricketers Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and others took to Twitter to congratulate ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) for historic achievement.
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Chandrayaan-3 Mission Timeline:
- Aug 23: Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram Lander successfully lands on Moon.
- Aug 20: Lander Module in 25 km x 134 km orbit, powered descent planned.
- Aug 19: Lander Module in 113 km x 157 km orbit, second de-boosting planned.
- Aug 17: Lander Module separated, deboosting scheduled.
- Aug 16: Spacecraft in 153 km x 163 km orbit.
- Aug 14: Orbit circularization phase, spacecraft in 151 km x 179 km orbit.
- Aug 09: Orbit reduced to 174 km x 1,437 km.
- Aug 06: Successful LBN#2, spacecraft in 170 km x 4,313 km orbit.
- Aug 05: Successful lunar orbit insertion, orbit 164 km x 18,074 km.
- Aug 01: Translunar orbit achieved, orbit 288 km x 369,328 km.
- Jul 25: Orbit-raising maneuver.
- Jul 22: Fourth orbit-raising maneuver, orbit 71,351 km x 233 km.
- Jul 17: Second orbit-raising maneuver, orbit 41,603 km x 226 km.
- Jul 15: First orbit-raising maneuver, orbit 41,762 km x 173 km.
- Jul 14: Chandrayaan-3 launched into orbit.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi also congratulated India after Chandrayaan 3’s landing.
“This is historic movement and sounds the bugle for a developed India”, PM Modi, who witnessed the historic moment virtually from Johannesburg in South Africa, said in his address to the ISRO scientists.
“Historic day for India’s space sector. Congratulations to @isro for the remarkable success of Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission”, the prime minister posted on Twitter.
NOtably, the Chandrayaan 3 mission was launched on July 14 for a 41-day voyage to reach the lunar south pole.