Tripti Nath/New Delhi

India created history by becoming the first country to land on the Moon’s South Pole as Chandrayaan-3 lander module touched down successfully.

Congratulatory messages began pouring in from all quarters including space agencies of U.S, U.K and Europe as Chandrayaan-3 landed on the South Pole of the Moon safely, making India the fourth country to land on the Moon.

It was this magical moment that the whole world, in particular Indians in India and the Indian diaspra all over the world had been waiting to watch for almost four years after Chandrayaan 2 partially failed. People watched the spectacle on television, laptops, palmtops and smart phones, with bated breath and nail-biting excitement.

As soon as ISRO announced the safe landing of the Vikram lander, Indians greeted the news with jubiliation  and a huge sense of relief. Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was watching the telecast of the  landing from Johannesburg, the venue of the BRICS summit miles away from home, smiled and looked relieved.  "India is on the moon!" the Prime Minister exclaimed with extreme delight as he sprung a surprise by pulling out the tri-colour and waving it as a symbol of national pride.

Hailing the accomplishment, Modi said that he is congratulating from the bottom of his heart the team Chandrayaan, ISRO, all the scientists and citizens of India. “ We can all aspire for the moon and beyond,'' he said in a super confident tone.

Speaking in Hindi first, the PM said,  “When we see such history being scripted in front of us, our lives become meaningful. Such historic incidents become the everlasting consciousness of a nation’s life. This day signifies that how one can succeed after taking a lesson from defeat. This moment represents the capabilities of 140 crore Indians. This is a moment belongs to India’s fresh energy, fresh confidence and fresh consciousness. This is ‘Amritvarsha’ of success. Today, we have witnessed in space India’s new flight to a new India.’’

Modi described the moment as unforgettable and unprecedented. “ I am in South Africa for the BRICS summit but my mind is also occupied with Chandrayaan 3. From today, the myths associated with the moon, will end. Every Indian is celebrating today. Every home is celebrating today.''

True enough, ISRO’s spectacular  success made Indians forget the disappointment over the crash landing of the Chandrayaan-2, in 2019.

The Prime Minister congratulated Team Chandrayaan, ISRO, all the scientists and citizens of the country. Modi demonstrated statesmanship by saying, “ On this joyous occasion, I would like to address all the people of the world. India’s successful moon mission is not just India’s alone. This is a year in which the world is witnessing India’s G 20 Presidency. Our approach of one family, one future is resonating across the globe. This human centric approach that we represent is welcomed universally.  Our moon mission is also based on the same human centric approach. Therefore, the success belongs to all our humanity and it will help moon missions by other countries I am confident that all countries in the world including those from the global South are capable of achieving such feats.''

Speaking in lighter vein, the Prime Minister said, “ Bharat me to hum dharti ko maa kehte hain. Kabhi kaha jaata tha Chanda Mama bahut door ke. Now, children in our country will say, Chanda Mama bas tour ke.’’(In India, we call the earth our mother. There was a time when it was said that the moon Uncle is very far way. Now children in the country will soon that the moon is only a tour away.''

He said that India will very soon launch a mission Aditya L 1 for the detailed study of the sun.

Officials at India's space agency ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru began cheering soon after the Vikram began its powered vertical descent towards its landing site.

Earlier this week, in an exclusive interview to Awaz The Voice, Wing Commander (retired) Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian citizen to go into space, had said that he was certain about the success of Chandrayaan-3.

The countdown of the Vikram hovered at 150 metres, then 130 metres, 50 metres and decelerated as approached the moon's service before finally touching down on the lunar surface. 

As the Vikram lander carrying the Pragyaan rover in its belly touched down on the lunar surface, it marked a giant leap in India’s spacefaring journey providing a well-deserved finale to ISRO’s long years of toil.

This makes India becomes the fourth country – after U.S., China, and Russia – to have successfully landed on the moon’s surface, it has earned a place in record books as the first to touchdown on the south side of Earth’s only natural satellite.

Billions of people across India and globally were closely monitoring the much-awaited event. More so after Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashed on Sunday after spinning out of control.

In the run-up to the scheduled soft landing of Chandrayaan-3, people across the country prayed to God in all places of worship for a successful mission.

Special screenings of the soft landing were organized across the country, including schools and science centers, and public institutions. ISRO made the live actions available on the ISRO website, its YouTube channel, Facebook, and public broadcaster DD National TV.

The scheduled timing for the soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon’s south pole on August 23, 2023 (Wednesday), was 18:04 IST, with the powered descent of Vikram lander at 1745 IST.

ISRO had been releasing a series of up-close images of the moon, assisting the lander module in determining its position (latitude and longitude) by matching them against an onboard moon reference map.

Historically, spacecraft missions to the Moon have primarily targeted the equatorial region due to its favourable terrain and operating conditions. However, the lunar South Pole presents a vastly different and more challenging terrain compared to the equatorial region

The spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota on July 14.

A GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle was used for the launch of the spacecraft that was placed in the lunar orbit on August 5 and since then it was through a series of orbital manoeuvres been lowered closer to the moon’s surface.

Ever since the July 14 launch, ISRO had been maintaining that the health of the spacecraft remained “normal”.

On August 5, Chandrayaan-3 was successfully inserted into the lunar orbit with multiple key manoeuvres thereafter.

Then on August 17, the mission marked another giant leap in its lunar quest as the 'Vikram' lander module of the spacecraft successfully separated from the propulsion module on Thursday. The Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander is named after Vikram Sarabhai (1919–1971), who is widely regarded as the father of the Indian space programme.

Then the deboosting of the Lander module was undertaken in two phases. Deboosting is the process of slowing down to position itself in an orbit where the orbit's closest point to the Moon is.

Upon landing, the lander and the rover were to operate for one lunar day. One day on the Moon is equal to 14 days on Earth.

The development phase of India's third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3’ commenced in January 2020 and the launch was planned sometime in 2021.

The Covid-19 pandemic however casued an unforeseen delay to the mission's progress. The approved cost of Chandrayaan-3 is Rs 250 crores (excluding launch vehicle cost).

Chandrayaan-2 mission was only “partially successful” since the lander lost contact after a hard landing, but the ISRO earlier this week successfully established two-way communication between the Chandrayaan-3 lander module and the still orbiting Chandrayaan-2 orbiter.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) founder Vikram Sarabhai once said India must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to the real problems facing society.

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The establishment of the ISRO was one of Vikram Sarabhai's greatest achievements. He successfully convinced the government of the day of the importance of a space programme for a developing country like India.