Now that is a clear message from S. Somanath, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft landed on the lunar surface at 8:34 am ET today.
India is now the fourth nation to land on the moon, not that other nations haven’t tried.
This victory is all the sweeter following Russia’s loss of the Luna-25 spacecraft. We needed some good news this week.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated:
Congratulations ISRO on your successful Chandrayaan-3 lunar South Pole landing! And congratulations to India on being the 4th country to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon. We’re glad to be your partner on this mission!
NASA provided the mission with a passive laser retroreflector array for lunar ranging studies.
The mission rover (shown below) should be moving about south pole soon enough to start its experiments in the vicinity.
You can learn more about the mission and equipment at this ISRO site.
Our Awesome Universe 