Finally, India reached the Moon! And not just that we are the first country to land near Moon’s South Pole! A great achievement by the great team of scientists at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The Lander Module of ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3- 3, the third lunar mission, India officially became the fourth country to have a soft landing on the Moon’s surface. Chandrayaan-3 was launched on 14th July 2023 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. It consists of a lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan. The Chandrayaan-3 successfully soft-landed on the South Pole of the Moon on 23rd August 2023. ISRO’s official Twitter handle shared some stunning images of the Moon by Chandrayaan-3
The ascent of the PSLV C56 launch vehicle tracked against the backdrop of the rising sun.
Slow motion video on our Instagram isro.dos pic.twitter.com/tAzC8gmHLo
— ISRO (@isro) July 30, 2023
As the Chandrayaan-3 lunar expedition was successful, the lander, communication was established between the Vikram lander and MOS-ISTRAC, Bengaluru. The images were taken from the Lander Horizontal Velocity camera during the descent. Have a look at the spectacular images:
After landing, the Lander Imager Camera captured a few images of the Moon’s surface. The picture shows the landing site of Chandrayaan-3 and we can also see a leg of the same. The Chandrayaan-3 chose a relatively flat region on the lunar surface for landing. Check out the image:
Before the descent, the Lander Imager Camera 4 also captured a video as it orbited around the Moon on 20 August 2023. It showed the Moon’s surface before landing on it.
ISRO regularly updated about the Chandrayaan-3 mission on its Twitter handle. Some images from the Lunar far side area also emerged, These images were captured by the Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Camera (LHDAC). ISRO developed this camera that assists in locating safe surfaces that is without boulders and deep trenches during the descent to avoid any mishap. The images captured on the same as shared by ISRO:
As captured by the Lander Position Detection Camera before landing, there is a video shared by ISRO that was captured by the camera on 15th August:
Chandrayaan-3 was at work even before reaching the Moon. Two images show what the camera captured a couple of weeks before landing on the Moon. The image of the Earth was taken by Lander Imager Camera on the day of launch:
The image of the Moon was captured by the Lander Horizontal Velocity Camera a day after the Lunar Orbit Insertion:
This is it from our side now but the mission is not over yet. We have more updates on the images of the Moon by Chandrayaan-3 as the lander explores different regions of the Moon’s surface. We congratulate the whole team of ISRO for this amazing feat. We are proud of ISRO’s scientists for taking India to the Moon!