The successful landing of Chandrayan-3 on the south pole of the Moon should be described as a wonderful success in the annals of Indian space history.
The Rover Pragyaan descended on to the Moon’s surface from the Lander Vikram and is sending reports on the atmosphere and temperature there. It has opened new vistas in space research.
India is the fourth nation to step on the Moon after the US, China and Russia.
Every Indian should feel proud that the indigenously-designed space vehicle Vikram is the first to land on the Moon’s South Pole. Russia’s space vehicle made futile attempts to land on the South Pole a few days ago.
Prime Minister Modi was attending the BRICS convention in Johannesburg when the Chandrayaan mission succeeded. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and other leaders congratulated Modi at the success of the Chandrayan-3.
The BRICS group described the event as a great success of the BRICS family. Modi suggested to BRICS members that member nations should form a space group.
India, which imported many goods including wheat, has now grown to the position of sending space vehicle to the Moon. It demonstrates the rapid progress made by the country.
The Chandrayaan-3 success was achieved purely banking on indigenous technology. International media, including the Pakistan media, praised India’s achievements.
Pakistan TV anchors said, “While Pakistan is caught in a mess of systemic problems, footage showing India stepping its foot on the Moon are wonderful. Pakistan locks horns with Bharat, but on what issues? We should compete with India on issues like Chandrayaan. That would mean offering healthy and progressive competition to India.”
At the success of Chandrayaan-3, Modi was elated with joy. He watched the rare spectacle of Chandrayaan-3 footage from South Africa and appreciated the scientists. He waved the Indian flag and said he was proud to be an Indian.
After his foreign tour, he went to Bengaluru and congratulated ISRO scientists. Modi was happy that Somnath was the ISRO chairman, the name of a famous God in Gujarat.
He realised the importance of women’s power in making the experiment a grand success and named the region on the Moon where Chandrayaan-3 landed as Siva Sakti. ISRO Chairman Somanath said that the name suggests Indianness.
The footprints of Chandrayaan-2 on the Moon should be regarded as ‘Tirangaa.’
He praised Indian scientists for taking the Make-in-India project to the Moon and made the Indian flag flutter high over there.
The day when Indian flag fluttered atop the Moon on August 23 would be named as Indian Space Day, Modi said.
He predicted that the days when India emerging as an international leader in science and technology are not far away.
India would be able to give a suitable reply to 21st century global challenges, he said.
The success in science and technology fields should be attributed to the support extended by the head of the state. Ever since Modi came to power, he has been encouraging scientists. Importantly, he asked youth and women to prove themselves by entering science and technology.
When Chandrayaan-2 was a total failure, he embraced the then ISRO Chairman Sivan and consoled him. “Our experiment failed by a whisker. Let us conduct the experiment with more confidence,” he said, patting Sivan’s back.
With the words of encouragement from Modi and his support, the scientists conducted another experiment and after four years made the Vikram Lander land on the Moon.
Later talking to media, the then ISRO chief Sivan said Chandrayaan-3 was made successful because of the encouragement that Modi had given to him then.
Deriving inspiration from Modi’s encouragement, scientists fulfilled their dream by working hard in the last four years and achieved positive results, Sivan said.
Former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan said the governments that ruled the country before Modi did not make sufficient suitable allocations to the Chandrayaan project.
Moreover, the Congress had no confidence in the ISRO.
ISRO scientists Priyanka Misra, Soujanya, Reema Gosh and other women scientists said that meeting Modi made them emotionally surcharged and they felt elated as Modi praised the women behind Chandrayaan-3.
In future, India is going to embark on Sukrayaan and Aditya L1 Missions.
Unfortunately, Congress leaders are not able to stomach Modi getting credit for the success of Chandrayaan-3. They discount Modi’s role and maintained that since the days of Jawaharlal Nehru the space research had received a boost.
None would deny the fact that space research did not take off in the past. But, the Congress was caught in the past itself. They give credit to Indira Gandhi and Nehru for past space achievements. The million-dollar question is why is the Congress not giving credit to Modi for space achievements in the last nine years?
In a survey done by ABP News-C-Voter, 53.3 per cent of the people surveyed voted for the scientists while 35.5 per cent of the surveyed felt that the credit should go to Modi too. However, 5.4% of the surveyed felt that Jawaharlal Nehru should also get the credit for ISRO’s success.
It is not that they are not aware of the achievements in science and technology during the Congress government, which was full of family rule, sycophants, systemic failure, corruption and appeasement politics.
