New Delhi | President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), for the successful launch of India’s second moon mission, Chandrayaan-2, on Monday. “The historic launch of Chandrayaan-2 from Sriharikota is a proud moment for all Indians. Congratulations to our scientists and engineers for furthering India’s indigenous space programme”, President Kovind said in a tweet.
Chandrayaan – 2 will be the first spacecraft to land close to the moon’s South Pole in some 50 days from now. The mission is expected to lead to new discoveries and enrich our knowledge systems. I wish the Chandrayaan-2 team every success”, he added. The President also said the mission “may continue to master new technologies, and continue to conquer new frontiers”.
Vice President Mr Naidu said, “Successful landing of Chandrayaan-2, an indigenously developed Spacecraft launched by India’s most powerful rocket- GSLV MKIII on the moon in a few weeks will make India the 4th country to do so”.
Describing it as proud day for every Indian, Mr Modi said, “Efforts such as Chandrayaan -2 will further encourage our bright youngsters towards science, top quality research and innovation. Every Indian is immensely proud today. ‘The Chandrayaan – 2 mission will boost India’s Lunar Programme. Our existing knowledge of the Moon will be significantly enhanced.
“Chandrayaan – 2 is unique, because it will explore and perform studies on the south pole region of lunar terrain, which is not explored and sampled by any past mission. This mission will offer new knowledge about the Moon”, Mr Modi said, in a series of tweets.
“Indian at heart, Indian in spirit! What would make every Indian overjoyed is the fact that Chandrayaan -2 is a fully indigenous mission. It will have an Orbiter for remote sensing the Moon and also a Lander-Rover module for analysis of lunar surface”, he added.
“Special moments that will be etched in the annals of our glorious history! The launch of Chandrayaan – 2 illustrates the prowess of our scientists and the determination of 130 crore Indians to scale new frontiers of science”, Mr Modi tweeted, moments after the launch, with a photograph that showed the Prime Minister witnessing the lift off on a big TV screen at his office.
ISRO had made an earlier attempt on July 15, to launch Chandrayaan-2, but it had was called off, due to a technical glitch, at the last minute.
