Bharat created history as it became the first country to land on the South Pole of the lunar surface. The moon lander part of the Chandrayaan-3 mission safely landed on the lunar surface on Wednesday.

The entire set of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) officials at the Mission Operations Complex at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru led by ISRO Chairman S. Somanath who were glued to their monitors got up and clapped when the moon lander safely and softly landed on the lunar soil in a text-book style.

All were seen beaming with delight and more so Somanath, whose name means the Master of Moon. “People wanted us to succeed. The ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 project team has put in tremendous effort. They have been breathing Chandrayaan-3 for the past four years,” M. Shankaran, Director, U.R. Rao Satellite Centre, said after the successful moon landing.

Shankaran also said the Chandrayaan-3 team was supported by teams in navigation, propulsion and others. According to him, the bar has now gone up, as the success has put higher responsibility on them.

“The entire mission happened flawlessly and on time. India is also the first country in the world to go near the moon’s South Pole,” said P. Veeramuthuvel, Project Director, Chandrayaan-3.

Referring to the safe landing of the moon lander, Associate Project Director Kalpana said it was the most remarkable and happiest moment for the Chandrayaan-3 team. She added that all the goals that were set have been achieved, after the team built Chandrayaan-3 learning from the failure of Chandrayaan-2.

It may be recalled that the Vikram lander that was part of the Chandrayaan-2 mission crashed on the moon while it was on the last phase of landing a couple of years ago. On that day, then ISRO Chairman K. Sivan was literally in tears and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had come to witness the landing, had to console the former.

But on Wednesday, the ISRO officials’ mood was diametrically opposite.

‘India will remember this day forever’ PM Modi said. 

Experts say that the final 15 to 20 minutes were highly crucial for the success of the mission when Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander descended down to its soft landing. Given the history of Bharat’s second lunar mission, which failed during the last 20 minutes before landing, ISRO was extra-cautious this time in the process as there is high risk to the spacecraft minutes before moon landing.

Vikram LM’s landing was broadcast live.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has also established a communication link with its moon lander that is now on the lunar soil. “The communication link is established between the Chandrayaan-3 Lander and MOX-ISTRAC, Bengaluru,” ISRO said.

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft comprises a propulsion module (weighing 2,148 kg), a lander (1,723.89 kg) and a rover (26 kg). The primary communication channel will be the Mission Operations Complex at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru, to Chandrayaan-3 Propulsion Module which in turn would talk to the lander and the rover.

Earlier, ISRO had said the moon lander had established communication links with the Chandrayaan-2 mission’s orbiter that is circling the moon since 2019. The Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter will be the backup communication channel for ISRO with the lander.

Chandrayaan-3 cost the nation Rs 615 crore ($75 million), which is cheaper than many Urduwood and Hollywood films. ISRO’s ground-breaking mission to the dark side of the Moon, the lunar South Pole, cost way less than Russia’s failed Luna 25 (estimated at $200 million or more than Rs 1,600 crore) and China’s first Chang’e probe (1.4 billion yuan or $219 million).

Heart-warming reactions to the successful moon landing poured in from across the country, some of which are shared below –

A video of ISRO chairman S Somanath talking recently about how ancient Bharatiya scientific discoveries were appropriated by others and sadly forgotten in the country of their origin, also went viral.

One hopes that Chandrayaan-3’s success inspires the youth of the country to take the country to even higher scientific and technological achievements, while remaining grounded and rooted in Dharma like the entire ISRO team!

(With IANS inputs)