Ziva, MS Dhoni’s daughter, celebrates India’s Chandrayaan-3 success.© Instagram
It was a momentous day for all Indians as the country became part of an elite space club on Wednesday. India’s moon mission Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the lunar surface. India thus has become the fourth country to land a rover on the moon after USSR/Russia, the United States, and China. India has become the first nation to land near the Moon’s South Pole, which is the hot new destination since traces of water were detected in the area. The touchdown took place at 6.04 pm amid huge cheers at the ISRO center in Bengaluru. Social media was flooded with congratulatory messages.
Joining in the celebration was former Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni‘s daughter Ziva. Dhoni’s wife posted the video of her celebrating on Instagram.
Ziva pic.twitter.com/y4LfWAFpHg
— (@Itzshreyas07) August 23, 2023
The live broadcast of the historic moment started at 5.20 pm and the lander completed four stages before landing on the Moon’s surface.
In each of the stages, Vikram slowly moved towards the moon and began the vertical descent in the final stages. Each successful stage saw celebrations from ISRO officials in the mission control room.
When it finally landed on the lunar surface, all the officials erupted in joy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in South Africa, joined through a video link and congratulated the entire team of ISRO.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who joined in the event online from South Africa, where he is attending the BRICS Summit, said: “This moment is precious and unprecedented. This moment announces the victory bugle of a New India. This moment is the strength of 1.4 billion heartbeats”.
ISRO has a number of projects lined up — one of them a mission to study the Sun, and a human space flight programme, Gaganyaan. Aditya-L1, the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun, is also getting ready for launch.
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