Chandrayaan 3: India scripts history, first to land near Moon's South Pole; PM Modi hails ISRO — Key highlights

Chandrayaan-3, India's much-anticipated lunar mission, scripted history by successfully completing a soft landing on the Moon's surface on August 23.

The success of the mission generated a wave of cheer across the country, as people crowded at offices, restaurants and shops to witness the historic moment. The celebration was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who, in a televised address, stressed that "India is now on the Moon".

Modi congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the country's nodal space agency, for executing the project. The successful Moon mission has made "Global South" capable of bigger feats, he said.

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"Because of your hard word, we reached there," Modi told the scientists

Here are the 10 key highlights from India's successful moon mission:

- Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander with a rover inside touched down on the lunar surface at 6:04 PM, sparking cheers and applause among the space scientists gathered in Bengaluru.

- India is now the first country to land near the Moon's South Pole, which is believed to be holding vital reserves of frozen water and precious elements. Many countries and private companies are interested in the lunar region because its permanently shadowed craters may hold frozen water that could help future astronaut missions.

Catch live updates on India's successful Chandrayaan-3 moon mission

- India is now also the fourth country to achieve Moon landing, joining the United States, Soviet Union and China. Bill Nelson, the Administrator of American space agency NASA, congratulated ISRO on achieving the feat.

Congratulations @isro on your successful Chandrayaan-3 lunar South Pole landing! And congratulations to #India on being the 4th country to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon. We’re glad to be your partner on this mission! https://t.co/UJArS7gsTv

— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) August 23, 2023

- PM Modi, while addressing the country following Chandrayaan-3's successful moon-landing, said the success is not just India's alone, but belongs to all of humanity. "We have planned big for the future. Soon, ISRO will launch the Aditya L1 mission to study the layers of sun. Then, even Venus won't be beyond our reach," he added.

- ISRO chief S Somanath, while congratulating his team, said "we are looking forward to the next 14 days from now for Chandrayaan-3". He also noted that the agency learnt from the failure of Chandrayaan-2, its previous lunar mission, that had crashed before the soft-landing on moon's surface in 2019. "We learned a lot from our failure and today we succeeded."

ISRO Chairman S Somanath and his officers celebrate the successful landing of spacecraft on the moon (AP Photo)

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- Chandrayaan-3 will be critical in the country’s future missions to space. One of the key success factors will be the performance of the payloads carried by the spacecraft. The six-wheeled lander and rover module of Chandrayaan-3 is configured with payloads that would provide data to the scientific community on the properties of lunar soil and rocks, including chemical and elemental compositions.

- Excited and anxious, people across India crowded around televisions in offices, shops and restaurants to witness the historic moment. Throughout the day, thousands prayed for the success of the mission at various religious places.

- India’s successful landing comes just days after Russia’s Luna-25, which was aiming for the same lunar region, spun into an uncontrolled orbit and crashed. It would have been the first successful Russian lunar landing after a gap of 47 years. Russia’s head of the state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos attributed the failure to the lack of expertise due to the long break in lunar research that followed the last Soviet mission to the Moon in 1976.

ISRO scientists awaiting the historic moment (AP Photo)

- The anticipation for a successful landing rose after Russia’s failed attempt and as India’s regional rival China reaches for new milestones in space. In May, China launched a three-person crew for its orbiting space station and hopes to put astronauts on the moon before the end of the decade. Relations between India and China have plunged since deadly border clashes in 2020.

- India, which emerged as the world’s fifth-largest economy last year, is keen to showcase its rising standing as a technology and space powerhouse, say analysts. A successful moon mission dovetails with Modi’s image of an ascendant India asserting its place among the global elite and would help bolster his popularity ahead of a crucial general election next year.