BENGALURU: A day after the lander module of the Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the Moon’s South Pole, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday announced that it will felicitate the chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and 500 other scientists in Bengaluru.
He spoke to the media after visiting ISRO, this morning and said, “The achievement of ISRO has made the whole world take note of India. The safe landing of the Vikram lander on the moon is a historic achievement.”
He further said that the Government will honour the ISRO scientists by organizing a special program at the Banquet hall, Vidhana Soudha.
“Scientists have worked day and night for this accomplishment. 500 scientists from Karnataka, including ISRO Chairman Somnath, will be honoured with Vikram travelling 3.84 lakh KM is no small achievement. A total of one thousand scientists of the country are involved in the project and about 500 people are from Bengaluru itself,” he added.
He said that the date of the facilitation program would be fixed after September 2.
“Apart from India, three countries Russia, America and China have set foot on the Moon. India is the first country in the world to reach the Lunar South Pole. We all should appreciate and congratulate ISRO’s achievement,” he said.
There will be cooperation and support from the government for ISRO’s initiatives.
He said ISRO is the pride of the country.
After a 40-day journey into space, the Chandrayaan-3 lander, ‘Vikram’, touched down on the uncharted lunar South Pole on Wednesday evening, making India the first country to do so.
India also became only the fourth nation after the US, Russia and China to successfully conduct a lunar landing mission. The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft put down the Vikram lander on the lunar surface, tilting to a horizontal position ahead of landing.
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 went through a series of orbital manoeuvres before zeroing in on the moon’s surface. (ANI)