India's double space triumph - 30th August 2023

India has secured their spot in the race for space when it successfully landed a spacecraft near the moon's south pole on 23rd August 2023. The world's largest democracy beamed with pride as Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation.

Narendra Modi: "Friends, science and technology are the basis of our prosperous nation, and this day will be remembered forever for this achievement. This day will inspire us all to move towards a bright future."

Landing at 12.34 GMT on the moon, Chandrayaan-3, meaning "mooncraft" in Sanskrit, heralded a new era for India. The successful mission comes on the heels of Russia crashing its probe in the same vicinity, and just four years after India's first mission failed within moments of landing.

Chandrayaan-3's project director P Veeramuthuvel recaps the mission.

P Veeramuthuvel: "The entire mission operations, right from launch till landing, happened flawlessly as per the timeline. And, we became the fourth country to land, to demonstrate the soft landing onto the moon's surface and we became the first country to go to the near to the south pole of the moon."

Possessing far less thrust than the engines used in the US Apollo rockets built in the 1960s and 70s, Chandrayaan-3 needed several orbits around Earth to gather some momentum before shooting off on its month long journey to the moon.

A solar powered rover dubbed Vikram, meaning "Valour", has detached from the propulsion module and has commenced its two week mission. It's responsible for exploring and transmitting images of the moon's south pole back to Earth.

Due to India's supply of skillful engineers, who are able to adapt and optimise existing technology, the mission cost $72.6 million, a mere fraction of previous attempts made by other countries.

India's next space endeavour will be to send a crew to the moon. Nevertheless, until such time, the nation revels in its double triumph as reflected in the sentiments of the chair of the Indian Space Research Organisation Sreedhara Somanath.

Sreedhara Somanath: "And I want to thank you also for each and every one who prayed with us in the last many days, who wanted this success to happen in ISRO. I thank all those people in, all around the country, and maybe beyond the country, for their blessings and wishes and affection that they have given to each one of us for doing this work for the last so many years."