I look forward with excitement…: President Murmu lauds ISRO after rollout of Pragyan rover on lunar South Pole

New Delhi: As India entered an elite club of nations with its successful lunar landing mission on Wednesday, President Droupadi Murmu posted a congratulatory message for the ISRO scientists involved with the Chandrayaan-3 project.

While India became only the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to conduct a successful lunar landing mission, it became the first to place a lander on the moon’s uncharted south face.

After the successful touchdown on the lunar South Pole, the Pragyan rover escaped the Vikram lander for scouring the uncharted lunar surface.

Taking to her official handle on X, formerly Twitter, after the rover rolled out of the lander, President Murmu posted, “I once again congratulate the ISRO team and all fellow citizens for successful deployment of Pragyan-rover from inside Vikram-lander. Its rolling out a few hours after the landing of Vikram marked the success of yet another stage of Chandrayan 3.”

I once again congratulate the ISRO team and all fellow citizens for successful deployment of Pragyan-rover from inside Vikram-lander. Its rolling out a few hours after the landing of Vikram marked the success of yet another stage of Chandrayan 3. I look forward with excitement,…

— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) August 24, 2023

“I look forward with excitement, alongside my fellow citizens and scientists to the information and analyses that Pragyan will acquire and enrich our understanding of the moon,” the post read further.

The successful lunar landing by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) came a day after a Russian lander — Luna-25 — crashed on the lunar surface during descent.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is currently attending the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg joined virtually to track the final nerveless moments leading up to the touchdown by the Vikram lander.

As soon as the lander touched the lunar south face, PM Modi was seen sporting a big smile and joyously waving the tricolour.

The ISRO had been releasing a series of up-close images of the moon, assisting the lander module in determining its position (latitude and longitude) by matching them against an on-board moon reference map.

The spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota on July 14. A GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle was used for the launch of the spacecraft that was placed in the lunar orbit on August 5 and since then it was through a series of orbital manoeuvres been lowered closer to the moon’s surface.

Ever since the July 14 launch, ISRO had been maintaining that the health of the spacecraft remained “normal”. On August 5, Chandrayaan-3 was successfully inserted into the lunar orbit with multiple key manoeuvres thereafter.