Chandrayaan 3 highlights: 'All planned Rover movements verified’, says ISRO

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday urged the student community to succeed in life by emulating eminent scientists like Chandrayaan-3 Project Director P Veeramuthuvel, PTI reported.

Referring to the successful Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 that has brought laurels to the nation, Stalin said its project director Veeramuthuvel hails from Villupuram in Tamil Nadu.

Here is the detailed timeline of all the developments in the Chandrayaan 3 mission.

• July 6: ISRO announces Mission Chandrayaan-3 launch date of July 14 from Sriharikota's second pad.

• July 7: Successful vehicle electrical tests completed.

• July 11: Comprehensive 24-hour 'Launch Rehearsal' simulating the entire launch process concludes.

• July 14: LVM3 M4 vehicle launches Chandrayaan-3 into designated orbit.

• July 15: First orbit-raising manoeuvre successful, reaching 41762 km x 173 km orbit.

• July 17: Second orbit-raising manoeuvre places Chandrayaan-3 at 41603 km x 226 km orbit.

• July 22: Fourth orbit-raising manoeuvre establishes spacecraft in 71351 km x 233 km orbit.

• July 25: Another successful orbit-raising manoeuvre.

• August 1: Chandrayaan-3 inserted into translunar orbit (288 km x 369328 km).

• August 5: Successful lunar orbit insertion (164 km x 18074 km).

• August 6: Lunar orbit lowered to 170 km x 4,313 km.

• August 9: ISRO carefully moves the spacecraft's path lower in its orbit around the moon. It has achieved a lunar orbit of 174 km x 1437 km

• August 14: Chandrayaan-3 gets closer to the moon's surface in another controlled bringing it in a orbit of 150 km x 177 km

• August 16: The Indian spacecraft performs the fifth and final Moon-bound manoeuvre positioning itself in a near circular Lunar orbit of 163*153 km.

• August 17: The landing module, comprising the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover, gets separated from its propulsion system.

• August 18: Chandrayaan 3 successfully completed a 'deboosting' operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km

• August 20: The Chandrayaan-3 will make the final orbit adjustment by reducing it to be around 134*25 km, the farthest and nearest point from the moon respectively.

• August 23: ISRO marked history with the successful landing of the Vikram lander. All the systems are performing as intended.

Read our detailed copy of Pragyan rover video

Read in detail here: Google doodle celebrates Chandrayaan-3's successful lunar landing

The cartoon - made by Singapore-based artist Heng Kim Song - showed a man, dressed as an Indian villager with a cow, knocking on a door with ‘Elite Space Club’ written on it. Two men wearing Western attire can be seen sitting with one holding a cup and another holding a newspaper that read ‘India's Mars mission'. The cartoon was published in the newspaper with an article titled ‘India’s Budget Mission to Mars’.

Check our story: New York Times cartoon on Indian space missions

Late on Thursday, NASA and SpaceX made the decision to temporarily stop the countdown for the launch of four astronauts heading to the International Space Station.

Mission managers have rescheduled the liftoff for early Saturday morning, granting them an additional 24 hours to address remaining matters, as per officials. The weather conditions are predicted to be close to ideal.

Read our detailed copy: NASA's SpaceX Crew 7 mission postponed again

"Scientists have worked day and night for this accomplishment. 500 scientists from Karnataka, including ISRO Chairman Somnath, will be honoured with Vikram travelling 3.84 lakh km is no small achievement. A total of one thousand scientists of the country are involved in the project and about 500 people are from Bengaluru itself," Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said.

"When the COVID vaccine was developed, even then the Opposition tried to mislead and spread fear. When they can't think of anything else, they are doing propaganda after the Chandryaan-3 Mission," Anurag Thakur told ANI.

“On behalf of all Sri Lankans, I sincerely congratulate @isro and India for the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar surface. This is a remarkable milestone for the advancement of lunar science and exploration,” Sri Lankan Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Describing India's successful lunar mission as a "historic achievement" for both India and the world, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has congratulated his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and the two leaders agreed to advance cooperation in the technology sector, especially artificial intelligence, PTI reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Modi on Thursday and congratulated him on the Indian achievement of successfully landing a spacecraft on the South Pole of the Moon, a press statement said, PTI reported.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu noted that this was a historic achievement for both India and the world and offered his heartfelt congratulations on behalf of all Israeli citizens", it said.

Update: ISRO deletes post on ‘Vikram’ lander clicked by Chandrayaan-2 orbiter

“Marking the triumph of the #Chandrayaan3Mission we gathered with our colleagues from the Permanent Missions in New York. We extend our gratitude for your presence and unwavering support on this occasion,” the Indian Permanent Mission to UN wrote on ‘X’ formerly Twitter on Friday, ANI reported.

Meanwhile, Permanent representative to UN Ruchira Kamboj has said Chandrayaan-3’s successful landing on the Moon is a historic moment for humanity as “we venture into uncharted territory near the moon's South Pole”.

“India's Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully landed its Vikram lander module near the South Pole of the Moon. And what is significant about this is that India has reached the South Pole of the Moon which no country in the world could reach to date with the dedication and talent of its scientists,” the permanent representative to the UN said during a press briefing at UN Headquarters in New York.

She said the Chandrayaan-3 mission “not only marks India's presence on the moon but also symbolizes the aspirations of 1.4 billion Indians. Beyond that, it's a historic moment for humanity as we venture into uncharted territory near the moon's South Pole.”

Kamboj said that as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the mission’s success “belongs to all of us and holds promise for future scientific achievements that will benefit humanity as a whole.”

After concluding his two-nation visit from Greece, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will head straight to Bengaluru, Karnataka on a pre-scheduled visit. He will meet scientists of the ISRO team involved in the Chandrayaan-3 Mission.

Chandrayaan 3 Live: After concluding his two-nation visit from Greece, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will head straight to Bengaluru, Karnataka on a pre-scheduled visit. He will meet scientists of the ISRO team involved in the Chandrayaan-3 Mission.

Chandrayaan 3 Live: India's Permanent Mission to the UN on Friday celebrated the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. “Marking the triumph of the #Chandrayaan3Mission we gathered with our colleagues from the Permanent Missions in New York. We extend our gratitude for your presence and unwavering support on this occasion,” the Indian Permanent Mission to UN wrote on ‘X’ formerly Twitter.

Chandrayaan 3 landing LIVE: Following Chandrayaan-3's monumental achievement of positioning India as the first country to successfully land on the Moon's southern pole, social media has been abuzz with the reappearance of an old video featuring ISRO chief S Somanath. In the video, the ISRO chief is seen dancing with his colleagues.

Chandrayaan 3 news LIVE: With the triumphant landing of Chandrayaan 3 near the lunar south pole, India marked a momentous stride in its space endeavours. Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to go to space, expressed that a remarkable era of space exploration programmes for the country has now commenced. He wistfully added that he wished he could be younger.

Chandrayaan 3 landing LIVE: The rear wheels of the rover, named Pragyan, leave imprints of the ISRO and the national emblem, depicting the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath, on the lunar surface – symbolising its presence and leaving India’s mark behind.

Chandrayaan 3 landing LIVE: ISRO chief S Somanath said Thursday that scientists were about to start the next phase of the moon mission, which, over the course of the next fortnight, could revolutionise global understanding of the seismology, soil profile, mineral composition and atmosphere of the unchartered southern pole of the moon, and even lay the foundation of future lunar missions.

– “The south polar region has the advantage of being less illuminated by the sun, and as a result of that there is a potential of having better scientific content, including retention of water below the sub-surface,” Somanath said.

– “We have chosen the best location that can give us an advantage. The next 14 days will set the stage for all future lunar space missions. Ultimately, we might even send a man on the moon and establish colonies there,” he added.

Chandrayaan 3 landing LIVE: Chandrayaan 3 has life for 14 days equivalent to one lunar day. They will become inactive without sun, but may come back to life when the sun rises again.