India is on the Moon
(Moon will be just another airport in next ten years)
Since the beginning of time, man has had a fascination with the moon. It has been an abject of inspiration in songs, poetry, books and art. Ten years ago, the Moon was an inspiration to poets and an opportunity for lovers but now Moon is priority world over in space programmes for revealing its secret. Investigations of the Moon can be traced back to a few centuries BCE. Landing on the moon has been a difficult feat, but it has been accomplished by some countries who have achieved success in landing their manned/unmanned spacecrafts on the Moon. The way countries are working on Moon exploration, we can forecast, ten years from now, the Moon will be just another airport. Following the launch in 1957 of the U.S.S.R.’s satellite Sputnik, the first spacecraft to orbit Earth, the USSR and US in a race of space programs were heavily engaged in the technological race to launch crewed flights to the Moon. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created in 1958 from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and other related organizations, as the result of the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s. The physical exploration of the Moon began when the very first nation to reach the surface of the moon was the USSR (now Russia), whose unmanned spacecraft Luna 9, touched down gently on the moon’s surface on 3 February 1966. After the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin pioneered human Earth-orbital flight in April 1961, the U.S. established the national objective of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely by the end of the decade. Among nine US Missions launched between 1961 and 1965, Ranger-4 (1962) became the first U.S. spacecraft to strike the Moon. NASA’s Apollo program was the only program to successfully land humans on the Moon, which it did six times. The first landing took place in 1969, when Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon while Michael Collins orbited above them. China, through its space mission Chang’e-3 launched in 2013 landed on the Moon. Since that time, several more countries have become involved in moon exploration, though to a much lesser extent. A total of eight countries (and one intergovernmental organization) have launched missions that impacted the moon: The US, Russia, China, India, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Luxembourg, and the European Space Agency (ESA). But in addition to the US only Russia, China and India have successfully Soft-Landed Unmanned Probes, Rovers or Landers, on the Moon.
The Indian space program began in 1962. In 1969 the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was set up in Bangalore (presently Bengaluru) for the purpose of rapid development of space technology and its application to use space technology for national growth. In 1972, the space commission was established. In 1975, India launched its first satellite, Aryabhata, and thus entered the space age. Over the last four and half decades, the Indian space programme has made impressive progress through a well integrated, self-reliant programme. In a giant leap for its space programme, India’s Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar South Pole at 12:32 Coordinated Universal Time (UCT) and at 6.04 pm (IST) on Wednesday, 23rd of August 2023, propelling the country to an exclusive club of four lunar landing countries and making it the first country to land on lunar South Pole, a largely uncharted region and has drawn the focus of whole world because the India has accomplished something that no other country has done. The lunar South Pole region holds particular interest for scientific exploration. We hope India will be a member of an elite group of countries very soon in placing human beings on the Moon through its human spaceflight programme, Gaganyaan. Our achievement has been acknowledged world over. The director general of the European Space Agency described the landing of Chandrayaan-3 as an “incredible” event and expressed “what a way to demonstrate new technologies and achieve India’s first soft landing on another celestial body. The US Department of State’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs expressed “Your (India’s) success will power the imagination and light the future of people around the world.” The Kremlin, whose own mission Lunar-25 failed, expressed “This is a big step forward in space exploration and, of course, a testament to the impressive progress made by India in the field of science and technology.” The President of South Africa congratulated India on the historic moon landing and conveyed ‘We join you in the joy of this great achievement.’ Every Indian is proud about the soft-landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon. In the vast space of our universe Chandrayaan-3 shines brightly as a symbol of India’s astral hope and exploration. It shows India’s strong determination to uncover the moon’s mysteries. Chandrayaan-3 has brought us closer in discovering Moon’s hidden secrets. Through Chandrayaan-3, India aims to showcase its technological prowess, scientific capabilities, and its commitment to space exploration. This mission will inspire the younger generation to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
India joined the PM in Congratulating the ISRO team behind the successful Chandrayaan-3 Moon Mission with the announcement by Prime Minister that the touchdown point of the Vikram lander would henceforth be known as ‘Shivshakti Point’ with the declaration that August 23, the day the Vikram lander landed on the moon, as ‘National Space Day’ that will be celebrated each year on August 23rd, the day when the Pragyan rover, a six-wheeled vehicle with a mass of 26 kilograms (57 pounds) and 917 millimeters (3.009 ft) x 750 millimeters (2.46 ft) x 397 millimeters (1.302 ft) in size, ramped onto the Moon on Wednesday, August 23, 2023 i.e. the day it landed that was successfully launched at 2.35 pm on July 14, 2023 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
Mahadeep Singh Jamwal
999expo999@gmail.com
India Achieves Historic Lunar Landing with Chandrayaan-3: Paving the Way for Future Space Exploration
