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India celebrates 'victory cry' as Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft lands on the moon
By Nivedita Bhattacharjee
August 23, 20237:52 AM PDTUpdated 33 min ago

Summary
Mission comes less than week after Russia's Luna-25 mission failed
Russia congratulates India
India becomes fourth nation to successfully land spacecraft on the moon
Launch budget of about $74 million less than the cost to produce 2013
Hollywood space thriller 'Gravity'
BENGALURU, Aug 23 (Reuters) - An Indian spacecraft landed on the rugged,
unexplored south pole of the moon on Wednesday in a mission seen as
crucial to lunar exploration and India's standing as a space power, just
days after a similar Russian lander crashed.

"This moment is unforgettable. It is phenomenal. This is a victory cry
of a new India," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who waved the Indian
flag as he watched the landing from South Africa where he is attending a
BRICS summit.

Scientists and officials clapped, cheered and hugged each other as the
spacecraft landed and people across India broke out in celebration,
setting off firecrackers and dancing in the streets.

"India is on the moon," said S. Somanath, chief of the Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) as the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft landed,
making India the fourth nation to successfully land a spacecraft on the
moon after the United States, China and Russia.

India's much-awaited moon mission Chandrayaan-3 has been scheduled for
launch on July 14, 2023.
India's much-awaited moon mission Chandrayaan-3 has been scheduled for
launch on July 14, 2023.
This was India's second attempt to land a spacecraft on the moon and
comes less than a week after Russia's Luna-25 mission failed. People
across the country were glued to television screens and said prayers as
the spacecraft approached the surface.

Nearly 7 million watched the YouTube live stream.

Chandrayaan means "moon vehicle" in Hindi and Sanskrit. In 2019, ISRO's
Chandrayaan-2 mission successfully deployed an orbiter but its lander
crashed.

Russia's space agency Roskosmos congratulated India on the landing.
"Roskosmos congratulates Indian colleagues on the successful landing of
the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft," it said in a post on its Telegram channel.

"Exploration of the moon is important for all mankind. In the future it
may become a platform for deep space exploration."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, at the BRICS summit,
congratulated his Indian counterpart during their bilateral meeting, a
video clip shared by the Russian foreign ministry showed.

The Chandrayaan-3 is expected to remain functional for two weeks,
running a series of experiments including a spectrometer analysis of the
mineral composition of the lunar surface.

[1/6]People watch a live stream of Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft's landing on
the moon, inside an auditorium of Gujarat Science City in Ahmedabad,
India, August 23, 2023. REUTERS/Amit Dave Acquire Licensing Rights

The moon rover will take a few hours or a day to come out of the
spacecraft, Somanath told reporters, adding that the landing has given
India confidence to extend its reach to possible voyages to Mars and Venus.

India is also planning to launch a mission in September to study the
sun, Somanath said. A human space flight is also planned and, while no
official date has been announced, preparations are likely to be ready by
2024.

The landing is expected to boost India's reputation for cost-competitive
space engineering. The Chandrayaan-3 was launched with a budget of about
6.15 billion rupees ($74 million), less than the cost to produce the
2013 Hollywood space thriller "Gravity".

Rough terrain makes a south pole landing difficult, and a first landing
is historic. The region's ice could supply fuel, oxygen and drinking
water for future missions.

"Landing on the south pole would actually allow India to explore if
there is water ice on the moon. And this is very important for
cumulative data and science on the geology of the moon," said Carla
Filotico, a partner and managing director at consultancy SpaceTec Partners.

India's much-awaited moon mission Chandrayaan-3 has been scheduled for
launch on July 14, 2023. The Soviet Union, the United States, and China
are the only three countries that have successfully carried out soft
landings on the moon.
India's much-awaited moon mission Chandrayaan-3 has been scheduled for
launch on July 14, 2023. The Soviet Union, the United States, and China
are the only three countries that have successfully carried out soft
landings on the moon.
Anticipation before the landing was feverish, with banner headlines
across Indian newspapers and news channels running countdowns to the
landing.

Prayers were held at places of worship across the country, and school
children waved the Indian tricolour as they waited for live screenings
of the landing.

Children gathered on the banks of the Ganga river, considered holy by
Hindus, to pray for a safe landing, and mosques offered prayers.

At a Sikh temple, known as a gurduwara, in the capital New Delhi,
Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri also offered prayers.

"Not just economic, but India is achieving scientific and technological
progress as well," Puri told reporters.

India's much-awaited moon mission Chandrayaan-3 has been scheduled for
launch on July 14, 2023. The Soviet Union, the United States, and China
are the only three countries that have successfully carried out soft
landings on the moon.
India's much-awaited moon mission Chandrayaan-3 has been scheduled for
launch on July 14, 2023. The Soviet Union, the United States, and China
are the only three countries that have successfully carried out soft
landings on the moon.
Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bengaluru; additional reporting
by Sunil Kataria, Krishn Kaushik, Tanvi Mehta, Maria Kiselyova; Writing
by Shilpa Jamkhandikar and Shivam Patel, Editing by Gerry Doyle, Angus
MacSwan and Nick Macfie

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