Tirupati: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath on Thursday offered prayers at Sri Chengalamma Parameswarini temple at Sullurpeta near here in the run-up to the launch of Chandrayaan-3 Mission. Wearing a black T-shirt, Somnath worshipped at the temple located in Tirupati district, 22 km west of Sriharikota, where the spaceport is located. “I need the blessings of Chengalamma Devi…I came here to pray and seek the blessings for the success of this mission,” Somnath told reporters.
Somnath, who is also the Secretary of the Department of Space and Chairman of the Space Commission said Chandrayaan-3 will be launched at 2:35 pm on Friday and called the LVM3 rocket big and strong which is on its fourth continuous mission.
“Chandrayaan-3 will start its journey tomorrow. We are hoping that everything goes right and it lands on the moon on August 23,” he added.
According to Somnath, the next launch by ISRO will be a commercial satellite by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) likely at the end of July.
He also said the Aditya-L1 mission launch, which is the first space-based Indian mission to study the sun, is likely in August.
Further, the ISRO Chairman said the satellite is currently undergoing tests and in case the results are good the launch will happen as scheduled (August 10) or close to that date.
On the Chandrayaan-1 mission, the ISRO chief said it was a super hit which produced great results and existed for a long time, including finding water on the moon.
Further, he said the Chandrayaan-2 mission confirmed the presence of water, besides generating a lot of science output, except for missing a soft landing.
Somanth highlighted that every launch is a success on many counts, saying that Chandrayaan-3 will be the same.
Meanwhile, Srinivas Reddy, executive officer of Chengalamma temple told PTI that ISRO officials visiting this temple before rocket launches has become a tradition.
“On the eve of every rocket launch before the countdown time starts, they perform puja at Chengalamma temple and then start their launch works,” said Reddy.
Also, a team of ISRO scientists visited the Lord Venkateswara temple at nearby Tirumala on Thursday morning in the run-up to the launch of the lunar exploration mission on Friday.
Visuals of the ISRO team, three women and two men, went viral on Thursday morning and a Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) official confirmed their visit.
“Yes, an ISRO team has visited Tirumala but our publicity wing did not cover their visit,” a TTD official told PTI.
ISRO officials generally make low-profile visits to the temple, the official added.
