India moon landing updates: Chandrayaan-3 makes space history

Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has joined other world leaders in hailing India’s successful moon landing.

“India continues to make history,” he said.

Congratulations to our friends in India for the successful landing on the moon. Nations are built through perseverance, India continues to make history.@narendramodi @PMOIndia

— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) August 23, 2023

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

The US Department of State’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs has said Chandrayaan-3 success will “power” the future.

“Your success will power the imagination and light the future of people around the world,” the department posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Congratulations to our #ArtemisAccords partner @isro on the successful landing of #Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon. Your success will power the imagination and light the future of people around the world. 🌕🚀

— U.S. Department of State | Science Diplomacy USA (@SciDiplomacyUSA) August 23, 2023

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
Updates:

The communication link is established between the Ch-3 Lander and MOX-ISTRAC, Bengaluru.

Here are the images from the Lander Horizontal Velocity Camera taken during the descent. #Chandrayaan_3#Ch3 pic.twitter.com/ctjpxZmbom

— ISRO (@isro) August 23, 2023

Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated India for an “impressive” achievement for landing its probe on the moon, days after Moscow’s own mission crashed.

Putin sent his “heartfelt congratulations” to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi according to the Kremlin’s website.

“This is a big step forward in space exploration and, of course, a testament to the impressive progress made by India in the field of science and technology,” the Kremlin statement read.

The chief justice of India has said the moon landing will lead to “new avenues” in scientific research and discovery.

“The success of the lunar mission places India in a select group of nations to successfully achieve a landing on the lunar surface,” DY Chandrachud said. “This represents a milestone in the march of the nation.”

The Chandrayaan-3 landing will help countries in their attempts to build a future lunar base, a British academic says.

“India being only the fourth nation to actually manage a successful soft landing on the moon is incredible,” Ian Whittaker, a senior lecturer in physics at Nottingham Trent University, told Al Jazeera.

“Landing on the south pole, or near it, is really important because it’s the sort of area we’d be looking for a lunar base.

“There’s water there, which was one of the findings of Chandrayaan-1. This water can be used for a lot of things. We could also look for building materials.”

Carla Filotico, a partner and managing director at consultancy SpaceTec Partners, said the landing would allow India to explore whether there was ice water on the moon.

“This is very important for cumulative data and science on the geology of the moon,” she said, according to the Reuters news agency.

Russia’s space agency Roskosmos has joined in together with others to hail India for the moon landing.

“Roskosmos congratulates Indian colleagues on the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft,” it said in a post on its Telegram channel.

“Exploration of the moon is important for all mankind. In the future it may become a platform for deep space exploration.”

The director general of the Indian Space Association says the landing is a historic and special moment for everyone in India.

“There were more than a million hearts beating louder and faster, waiting in the very critical last 20 minutes of the lander coming down,” Anil Kumar Bhatt told Al Jazeera.

“There is jubilation all around. I’m here in a college near Delhi, and my God, the excitement is remarkable. It’s like we won a World Cup match,” he said.

Indian leader Rahul Gandhi has said the moon landing was a result of “tremendous ingenuity and hard work” by the country’s scientific community.

“Since 1962, India’s space program has continued to scale new heights and inspire generations of young dreamers,” he posted on social media platform X.

Congratulations to Team ISRO for today's pioneering feat.#Chandrayaan3’s soft landing on the uncharted lunar South Pole is the result of decades of tremendous ingenuity and hard work by our scientific community.

Since 1962, India’s space program has continued to scale new…

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 23, 2023

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has congratulated India on the historic moon landing.

“This for us, as the BRICS family, is a momentous occasion and we rejoice with you. We join you in the joy of this great achievement,” he said.

The director general of the European Space Agency, Josef Aschbacher, calls the landing of  Chandrayaan-3 an “incredible” event.

“What a way to demonstrate new technologies and achieve India’s first soft landing on another celestial body,” he said. “Well done. I am thoroughly impressed.”

President of India’s Congress Party and leader of the opposition Mallikarjun Kharge says the the success of Chandrayaan-3 was the “collective success of every Indian”.

“An elated nation with 140 crore (1.4 billion) aspirations witnessed today yet another achievement in its six-decade-long space programme.”

As India became the first nation to land a craft near the moon’s south pole, Modi called it a “historic day”.

“Historic day for India’s space sector,” he wrote on the social media platform X, previously known as Twitter.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
'India🇮🇳,
I reached my destination
and you too!'
: Chandrayaan-3

Chandrayaan-3 has successfully
soft-landed on the moon 🌖!.

Congratulations, India🇮🇳!#Chandrayaan_3#Ch3

— ISRO (@isro) August 23, 2023

“India’s successful moon mission is not just India’s alone,” Modi says, adding that mission is based on a “human-centric” approach and its success belongs to all of humanity.