Hyderabad: India became the fourth country to land on the moon and the first nation to reach its southern polar region on August 23, 2023. To honour this landmark achievement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced August 23 as "National Space Day".
On the 1st National Space Day, August 23, 2024, the Department of Space will be conducting extensive celebrations across the country.
Theme of National Space Day: To commemorate the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3, the theme selected for National Space Day this year is 'Touching Lives while Touching the Moon: India’s Space Saga'. It emphasises the importance of space exploration on society and technology.
Speaking about this space analyst Girish Linganna said that the government is also organising a month-long program to showcase India's space achievements and inspire youths he said
This year's event will be held under the slogan 'Touching Lives While Touching the Moon' and India's Space Saga as the motto. This theme aptly illustrates that India's space explorations are not only limited to extraordinary scientific achievements but also make a positive difference in the daily lives of common people.
Even as India is reaching the stars, its roots are firmly rooted on the earth itself. Also, the country is striving to improve the lives of its people through technological developments and breakthroughs in space explorations, Linganna said.
About Chandrayaan-3
On July 14, Chandrayaan-3 was successfully launched into orbit. On the next day, the first orbit-raising manoeuvre was successfully performed. On August 1, 2023, the TransLunar Injection was performed successfully. On August 5, Chandrayaan-3 was successfully inserted into the lunar orbit. On August 17, 2023, the Lander module was successfully separated from the propulsion module.
On 23 August, at 6:04 PM, the Chandrayaan-3's lander touched down close to the center of the 4.5-kilometer-wide area that had been targeted for the landing. The lander landed within 300 meters (985 feet) of that point.
India thus took a giant leap as the ISRO's mooncraft, Chandrayaan-3 soft landed on the Moon's south polar region, making it the first country to achieve this milestone. Moreover, India became the fourth country – after the United States, China, and Russia – to have successfully landed on the moon’s surface. The mission began at an estimated cost of over Rs 600 crore. ISRO Chairman S Somnath said that India would next attempt a manned lunar mission.
First Mission:
India's inaugural Moon mission Chandrayaan-1 was successfully launched on October 22, 2008, from the SDSC SHAR in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. Following manoeuvres within Earth's orbit and positioning for travel towards the moon, Chandrayaan-1 successfully entered the moon's orbit on 10 November, marking India as the fifth country to achieve this milestone.
India became the fifth country to successfully land on the moon on 14 November when the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) hit near the Shackleton crater at the lunar south pole. The mission was supposed to last two years but was officially concluded on 28 August 2009 after losing contact with the orbiter.
Second Mission:
After the success of the Chandrayaan-1 mission, on 22 July 2019, Chandrayaan-2 was finally launched on LVM3. After orbit-raising manoeuvres and finally the trans-lunar injection, Chandrayaan-2 attained the lunar Orbit on 20 August. On 6 September 2019, during the descent to the surface, the contact with the lander was lost after it crash-landed.
Third Mission:
On 14 July 2023, Chandrayaan-3 was successfully launched on LVM3 and was inserted in the lunar sphere of gravitational influence on 5 August 2023. On 23 August 2023, the lander Vikram successfully soft landed in the lunar south pole region, achieving humanity's first soft landing in the region.
Celebration and Activities for National Space Day: A myriad of events will unfold highlighting India's remarkable achievements in space, profound benefits to society, and boundless opportunities for people from all walks of life to engage with the Indian space programme. These celebrations will culminate in the main event in New Delhi on August 23, 2024.
A special two-day event will be held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi to celebrate National Space Day, featuring various important sessions, engaging exhibits, and major announcements regarding India's space accomplishments.
