Work of a generation of ISRO's leadership and scientists, says its chief Somanath on Chandrayaan-3 success

Bengaluru: ISRO Chairman S Somanath on Wednesday acknowledged the contribution of a generation of leadership and scientists of the country’s space agency for the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s success, and said the achievement is an ”incremental progress” and ”a huge one”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who virtually joined from South Africa to witness the culmination of the complex mission, lauded the scientists for their efforts.

”The Honourable PM called me and conveyed his greetings to each one of you and your family for the wonderful work you did in ISRO. Thanks to him for the support he is giving to us for missions like Chandrayaan-3 and missions that are in the offing. That’s the great word of comfort that we are receiving for pursuing the inspirational work that we are doing for the nation,” Somanath said, addressing the ISRO team at the Mission Operations Complex.

Somanath thanked all those who prayed for the mission’s success, and ISRO veterans like A S Kiran Kumar , the space agency’s former chief. ”They have been helping so much, they were part of the team to help them to get the confidence and get the reviews done, and to ensure that nothing goes with any mistakes,” he added.

India on Wednesday scripted history as ISRO’s ambitious third Moon mission Chandrayaan-3’s Lander Module (LM) touched down on the lunar surface, making it only the fourth country to accomplish the feat, and first to reach the uncharted south pole of Earth’s only natural satellite.

The LM comprising the lander (Vikram) and the 26 kg rover (Pragyan), made the soft landing near the south polar region of the Moon this evening.

Noting that this is the work of a generation of ISRO’s leadership and scientists, Somanath said, ”this is the journey we started with Chandrayaan-1, continued in Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-2 craft is still working and doing lot of communication work with us– and all the team that contributed to building Chandrayaan-1 and 2 should be remembered and thanked, while we celebrate Chandrayaan-3.”

”This is an incremental progress and definitely a huge one,” he added.