"He congratulated all of us..." ISRO chief on telephonic conversation with PM Modi
Aug 23, 2023
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], August 23 : After speaking with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the phone, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief S Somanath on Wednesday said that the PM will personally come down and congratulate each one of us on Chandrayaan-3's success.
"The PM congratulated all of us and said that he would like to personally come down and congratulate each one of us," the ISRO chief said.
The Prime Minister, who rang up the ISRO chief from South Africa as Chandrayaan-3 landed successfully on the South pole of the lunar surface, said, "Somnath Ji, your name is Somnath, which is associated with the moon, and therefore your family members will also be very happy today."
"Many many congratulations to you and your entire team from my side," PM Modi said in the telephone conversation.
Meanwhile, the country's space agency's chief said that ISRO's next mission is the Aditya L-1 mission which is getting ready at Sriharikota.
After the lander module Vikram of the country's third lunar mission made a safe and soft landing, Somanath said, "India is on the Moon".
Officials at India's space agency ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru broke into applause after the Vikram began its powered vertical descent towards its landing site.
PM Modi who is attending the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg watched the live telecast and as soon as the touchdown happened he sported a big smile and waved the tricolour.
The countdown of the Vikram hovered at 150 metres, then 130 metres, and 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 the fourth country – after the US, 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.
