Chandrayaan-1 orbited the Moon for 10 months and made significant discoveries about the lunar surface, including the presence of water ice.
NEW DELHI — Congress leader KC Venugopal on Wednesday said that he is proud of India’s moon mission and wished for the success for Chandrayaan-3 lander module attempts for a touchdown on the moon’s surface on Wednesday. He also recalled the success of the Chandrayaan 1 mission under the UPA government in 2008.
Speaking to media at the party headquarters here, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said, “It is certainly a proud moment for all of us. We all are praying for a big mission which has been done by the ISRO people and we are very much proud of them and entire scientist.”
He also reminded that there were previous attempts for the Moon Mission by India in 2008.
“But this is not happening now itself. Chandrayaan 1 happened, you know about that and this is Chandrayaan 3. But for praising this thing, remember that also,” he said.
Chandrayaan-1 orbited the Moon for 10 months and made significant discoveries about the lunar surface, including the presence of water ice.
“But we are really proud of the Chandrayaan Mission and the people and the scientists behind that mission. We are still praying for better launching of that mission,” the Congress leader added.
Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that India’s space journey began on February 23, 1962, with the formation of INCOSPAR due to farsightedness of Homi Bhabha abd Vikram Sarabhai along with first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
In a tweet, Ramesh said: “India’s space journey began on February 23, 1962, with the formation of INCOSPAR — thanks to the farsightedness of Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai, along with the enthusiastic support of Nehru. The Committee comprised of top scientists from premier scientific institutions across the country coming together in a spirit of collaboration and team work.”
According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the lander will begin its moon landing descent at 5.45 p.m. today, and the touch down to happen at about 6.05 p.m.
The soft landing is a tricky issue as it involves a series of complex manoeuvres consisting of rough and fine braking. ISRO said the powered descent of the lander will happen from an altitude of 25 km.
The Chandrayaan-3 was put into orbit on July 14 in a copybook style by India’s heavy lift rocket LVM3. The spacecraft completed orbiting around the earth and headed towards the moon on August 1.
The success of the mission is of prime importance to India, which will become the fourth country to master the soft-landing technology on moon surface after the US, China and the erstwhile Soviet Union.
In addition, it will also become the first country to reach the unexplored larger south pole of the Moon. — IANS
