Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on Moon’s South Pole, Pragyan rover takes a ‘walk on the moon’

India has become the first country in the world to land on the South Pole of the lunar surface. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi congratulated Indians and space scientists for the achievement. ‘India will remember this day forever’ PM Modi said.

The true test of the mission started at the last phase of the landing. 20 minutes before landing, ISRO initiated Automatic Landing Sequence (ALS). It allowed Vikram LM to take charge and use its on-board computers and logic to identify a favourable spot and make a soft-landing on the lunar surface.

As per the experts, the final 15 to 20 minutes were highly crucial for the success of the mission when Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander descended down to its soft landing.    

ISRO was extra-cautious during this lunar mission as its second mission failed during the last 20 minutes before landing. Due to high risk to the spacecraft minutes before moon landing, the duration is dubbed by many as "20 or 17 minutes of terror". During this phase, the whole process became autonomous, where Vikram lander ignited its own engines at the right times and altitudes.

The Prime Minister said that the success of Chandrayaan-3's soft landing on the South Pole of the Moon was not limited to one country but the success of mankind.

Pawan K Goenka, Chairman of INSPACe, Dept of Space, Chairman SCALE, DPIIT shared a glimpse of Rover Pragyan of Chandrayaan-3, yesterday while it was coming out of the lander on the ramp.

Today, in the morning Rover Pragyan started its exploration of the lunar surface, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on messaging platform X.

The space agency said in its message, "India took a walk on the moon".

It added, the "rover ramped down."

"Chandrayaan-3 ROVER: Made in India--Made for the Moon! The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the lander and India took a walk on the moon!," it said.