India lands on the moon

Indian scientists landed a spaceship on the moon on 23rd August, 2023. It's the first country to go to the moon's south pole. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the achievement is historic.

Narendra Modi: "Friends, science and technology are the basis of our prosperous nation, and this day will be remembered forever for this achievement. This day will inspire us all to move towards a bright future."

The spaceship's called Chandrayaan-3, which means "mooncraft". It landed at 12.34 GMT, which makes India the fourth country to reach the moon. Four years ago, India tried to land on the moon but failed.

P Veeramuthuvel's the director of Chandrayaan-3.

P Veeramuthuvel: "The entire mission operations, right from launch till landing, happened flawlessly as per the timeline. And, we became the fourth country to land, to demonstrate the soft landing onto the moon's surface and we became the first country to go to the near to the south pole of the moon."

Chandrayaan-3's engines aren't as powerful as the US Apollo rockets' from the 1960s and 70s. So, it had to gain some speed by travelling around the Earth several times before starting its one month journey to the moon.

Vikram's a solar powered robot on board the spaceship. It'll move around the moon's south pole for two months and send back pictures to Earth.

India spent $72.6 million on the space mission, which is less than what other countries have spent. The country would like to send astronauts on the next trip. But for now they're enjoying the success of Chandrayaan-3.

The head of the Indian Space Research Organisation Sreedhara Somanath's happy.

Sreedhara Somanath: "And I want to thank you also for each and every one who prayed with us in the last many days, who wanted this success to happen in ISRO. I thank all those people in, all around the country, and maybe beyond the country, for their blessings and wishes and affection that they have given to each one of us for doing this work for the last so many years."

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