NASA chief applauds India as Chandrayaan-3 scripts history with successful lunar landing

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Wednesday congratulated India and by extension its space agency–ISRO after the country’s Chandrayaan-3 moon mission successfully completed a historic touchdown on the lunar surface.

“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!” tweeted NASA’s administrator Bill Nelson.

He followed it up with another tweet on X, formerly known as Twitter, in which he said NASA looks forward to path-breaking scientific results that are likely to evolve from the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

“Congratulations to @ISRO on the Chandrayaan-3 launch, wishing you safe travels to the Moon. We look forward to the scientific results to come from the mission, including NASA’s laser retroreflector array. India is demonstrating leadership on #ArtemisAccords!” Nelson, who is the 14^th administrator to head the US space agency wrote.

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! https://t.co/UJArS7gsTv

— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) August 23, 2023

India on Wednesday scripted history and made its way into the elite space club of countries after its second shot at landing on the Moon turned out to be successful. Lander Vikram’s final touchdown speed on the lunar surface was well within its safe limits. It ran on a total of four engines initially, after which two were shut down, so the touchdown on the lunar surface was powered by two engines.

With the success of the Chandrayaan-3 moon mission, India has become only the fourth nation to land successfully on the surface of the Moon after an earlier failed attempt in 2019.

Now, that the Vikram lander has touched down safely on the lunar surface, it will perform a systems check and run a few diagnostics. It will also prepare the Pragyaan Rover to go out on to the lunar surface and carry out its data and sample collection for further scientific research.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) did not want the fine Moon dust to coat the cameras and other sensitive instruments that are part of the mission, so it decided to wait for over three hours to ensure the dust moves away from the lander Vikram before it begins its data collection.