The Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission has made a succesful landing on the Moon.
"India's successful Moon mission is not India's alone...This success belongs to all of humanity," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who joined the mission control headquarters virtually from South Africa where he is attending the BRICS summit.
"India has achieved successful landing India is on the moon. We're on the moon, said the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
India becomes the fourth nation in the world to land a satellite on the lunar crater after the US, the Soviet Union and China.
Speaking with Sputnik India, Dr. T V Venkateswaran, a scientist at Vigyan Prasar Dept of Science and Technology, explained the Moon landing: "The Vikram lander has successfully landed on the lunar crater. Now, ISRO's station is receiving signals from the lander. Vikram has an active sensor that sends signals to the Earth."
The sending signal took one second, after which ISRO confirmed the soft landing.
"We've to wait for photos for a while, as after landing there [will] be dust, and once this dust settles down, the Pragyaan Rover will click the picture of Vikram, and then Vikram will take a photo of Pragyaan."
Indians Pray to Chandrayaan 3
Millions of eyes were set on the sky for Chandrayaan-3's landing, with many keeping their fingers crossed or praying.
Ahead of the landing on Wednesday at 18:04 (Indian Standard Time), prayers and recitals were held in various parts of the country, including Mumbai and Varanasi cities.
Meanwhile, the government asked universities and higher education institutions to organize telecasts and assemblies to watch the moon landing live.
In India’s Uttar Pradesh, the state government ordered special screenings of the Chandrayaan 3 landing module in all state-run schools, while in Gujarat, the Science and Technology Council invited over 2,000 school students "to witness the moment" on a large screen. The landing event will be shown live across Gujarat's 33 district community science centers.
Likewise, in Kolkata city of West Bengal state, a science-themed party was organized, while individuals set up watch parties for the landing at restaurants in various Indian cities.
India’s last attempt to land on the moon failed when Chadrayaan-2 crashed during a soft landing.
Todays success had garnered attention across the globe as it came just four days after Russia's Luna-25 crashed a short distance from where Chadrayaan-3 was due to land.
India’s Moon Mission
India has launched three missions to the Moon in 15 years.
Chandrayaan-1 was launched in 2008 from Sriharikota of Andhra Pradesh state.
The spacecraft carried 11 scientific instruments and orbited around the Moon at a height of 100 km for chemical, mineralogical, and photo-geologic mapping.
After completing all the primary mission objectives successfully, the orbit was raised to 200 km in May 2009. However, communication with Chandrayaan-1 was lost in August 2009, but the mission achieved 95% of its objectives.
Chandrayaan-1 also created the first map of water trapped in the uppermost layer of the Moon's soil and confirmed the presence of water there.
India’s second mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-2, launched in 2019, accomplished most of its objectives, but the lander failed to make a soft landing.
Meanwhile, the ISRO increased the mission life of the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter from one year to seven years, with the organisation saying on Monday that two-way communication between Chandrayaan-2 and the Chandrayaan-3 lunar module has been established.