Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar express happiness at Chandrayaan-3's historic landing on moon's south pole
New Delhi: Indian cricketing icons Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli took to social media to express their happiness as the country made history with the Chandrayaan-3 lander module successfully landing on the moon’s South Pole on Wednesday, making it the first country to have achieved the historic feat.
It was a giant leap for India on Wednesday evening as the Chandrayaan-3 lander module successfully landed on the moon’s South Pole. It brought an end to the disappointment over the crash landing of the Chandrayaan-2, four years ago.
Sachin said that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) represents the "best of India".
"...@ISRO represents the best of India. Humble, hardworking women & men, coming together, overcoming challenges, and making our tricolour fly high. India must celebrate and congratulate the Chandrayaan-2 team, which was led by Shri K Sivan, along with Shri S Somanath’s #Chandrayaan3 team. Every hard landing has lessons which take us closer to a soft landing - on the moon, and in life. Jai Hind!," tweeted Sachin.
Virat also congratulated the ISRO scientists for their remarkable achievement.
"Many congratulations to the #Chandrayaan3 team. You have made the nation proud Jai Hind!," tweeted Virat.
Officials at India's space agency ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru broke into applause after the Vikram began its powered vertical descent towards its landing site.
As the Vikram lander carrying the Pragyaan rover in its belly touched down on the lunar surface, it marked a giant leap in India’s spacefaring journey providing a well-deserved finale to ISRO’s long years of toil.
This makes India the fourth country – after the US, China, and Russia – to have successfully landed on the moon’s surface, it has earned a place in record books as the first to touchdown on the south side of Earth’s only natural satellite.
Special screenings of the soft landing were organized across the country, including schools science centers, and public institutions. ISRO made the live action available on the ISRO website, its YouTube channel, Facebook, and public broadcaster DD National TV.
The spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota on July 14.
