Chandrayaan-3 lands successfully on Moon: Indian Cricketers lead sports fraternity to congratulate ISRO

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India on Wednesday (August 23) created history as ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 Lander Module (LM) touched down on the lunar surface. India thus became only the fourth nation in the world to land on the surface of the moon.

The LM comprising the lander (Vikram) and the rover (Pragyan) made the soft landing near the south polar region of the Moon at 6:04 pm to complete a feat not achieved by any country so far.

"Chandrayaan-3 Mission wrote on X, formerly Twitter, "India, I reached my destination and you too! Chandrayaan-3 has successfully soft-landed on the moon. Congratulations, India."

Indian sports fraternity was overjoyed with ISRO's monumental feat and congratulated the nation and the Indian space agency.

Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag wrote on X, "Yaaaaayyy! We have done it. Soft landing on the Moon. #Chandrayaan3. Congratulations @isro and all those who dedicated themselves to this historic mission. We are on the Moon."

Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma wrote on X, "India - The 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 to reach the lunar south pole. That's got a nice ring to it. A proud moment for each one of us & a big congratulations to @isro. For all their efforts."

"History👏👏 Congratulations @isro for this extraordinary accomplishment. #JaiHind," wrote India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

Legendary India cricketer Sachin Tendulkar wrote,"विजयी विश्व तिरंगा प्यारा, झंडा ऊँचा रहे हमारा! @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!"

Star India boxer Nikhat Zareen wrote, "A moment of national pride as Chandrayaan touches down. Way to go, ISRO! 🌕🚀 #ISRO #Chandrayaan3."

Senior India cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara wrote on X, "What a monumental feat for @isro and India! Congratulations to every Indian #Chandrayan3Landing."

"As we were approaching Sunset, Moon ke South Pole par hum set. What a glorious moment. Just proves, that after every setback is a stronger comeback. Some naysayers who want Bharat to fail, some of them living in India as well will have some sleepless nights. #Chandrayaan3," wrote Sehwag.

How ISRO landed Chandrayaan-3 on Moon?

Earlier in the day, ISRO initiated the Automatic Landing Sequence (ALS) for its ambitious third Moon mission Chandrayaan-3's Lander Module (LM) to touch down on the lunar surface.

"All set to initiate the Automatic Landing Sequence (ALS). Awaiting the arrival of Lander Module (LM) at the designated point, around 17:44 Hrs. IST (5:44 pm)," ISRO said in a post on X.

"Upon receiving the ALS command, the LM activates the throttleable engines for powered descent. The mission operations team will keep confirming the sequential execution of commands," it said.

After checking all the parameters and deciding to land, ISRO will upload the required commands from its Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) facility at Byalalu near here, to the LM, a few hours before the scheduled touchdown time.

According to ISRO officials, for landing, at around 30 km altitude, the lander entered the powered braking phase and began to use its four thruster engines by "retro firing" them to reach the surface of the moon, by gradually reducing the speed.

This was to ensure the lander didn't crash, as the Moon's gravity was also in play. On reaching an altitude of around 6.8 km, only two engines will be used, while the two others will be shut down, aimed at giving the reverse thrust to the lander as it descends further, they said.

Then, on reaching an altitude of about 150-100 metres, the lander, using its sensors and cameras, scanned the surface to check whether there were any obstacles and then started descending to make a soft landing.

ISRO Chairman S Somanath had termed the process of reducing the velocity of the lander from 30 km height to the final landing and its ability to reorient the spacecraft from horizontal to vertical direction as the most critical part of the landing.

After the soft landing, the rover descended from the lander's belly, onto the Moon's surface, using one of its side panels, which acted as a ramp. On landing the lander may have to face the challenge of lunar dust due to the firing of onboard engines close to the moon's surface.

The lander and rover will have a mission life of one lunar day (about 14 earth days) to study the surroundings there. However, ISRO officials do not rule out the possibility of them coming to life for another lunar day.

(With PTI Inputs)