The Chandrayaan-3 mission makes India the first country to reach the lunar south polar region in one piece and adds to the achievements of the country’s homegrown space program.
Noting that today Team ISRO has achieved what it had set out to achieve in 2019, Sankaran said, "it was delayed by about four years, but we have done it." Pointing out that the entire project team has been "sleeping, eating and breathing" Chandrayaan for the past four years, he said, "As a person who has been watching their efforts for the past four years along with them, my heart goes out to them.
ISRO Chairman S Somanath said that Chandrayaan-3 is the result of work done by thousands of engineers, scientists, industries, and support teams across ISRO and other institutions.
As Chandrayaan-3 success has sent a wave of rejoice in the entire country, take a look at how it was spurred by the failure of the Chandrayaan-2 moon mission.
Chandrayaan-3 has been orbiting the moon since early August. On Wednesday, as the spacecraft approached the low point of the orbit, moving at more than 3,700 mph, a preprogrammed sequence of maneuvers commenced. The craft s four engines fired again at the start of what ISRO called the "rough braking" portion of the descent, its speed of fall accelerating. After 11.5 minutes, the lander was just over 4 1/2 miles above the surface and started rotating from a horizontal to a vertical position while continuing its descent.