Highlights: Pragyan rover rolls out of Chandrayaan-3 lander on Moon

Former ISRO scientist Syed Maqbool Ahmed said that all systems of the Chandrayaan-3 have been tested in all kinds of conditions.

“We are minutes away from the start of Chandrayaan-3's power descent”, ISRO said.

Power descent should begin in 10 mins as per current plan

ISRO’s ISTRAC (Indian Space Research Organisation’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command) centre in Bengaluru and its mission control facility or MOX will be the pillars supporting the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

"Kinda crazy when you realise India's budget for Chandrayaan-3 ($75 million) is less than the film Interstellar ($165 million)," Newsthink posted on X (formerly Twitter). Responding to the tweet from Newsthink Elon Musk wrote, "Good for India", with an emoji of the Indian tricolour.

"Root for India! Good luck, Chandrayaan-3," Jeff Bezos posted on Instagram's Threads platform, commenting on ISRO's post on the mission.

In case of 'unfavourable conditions' an ISRO scientist said that the landing may be postponed to August 27. However, he affirmed that the lander should not face any problems today. Read here

"We are going to join the elite group of four (countries) touching the Moon's surface... Failures gives lessons. We have learnt a lot... They (ISRO) have taken enough cautions to have a soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 over the Moon's surface," senior scientist CSIR Satyanarayana said. 

This is a big feat indeed! 

PM Modi, who is in South Africa to attend the 15th BRICS Summit, will virtually witness the historic landing attempt. 

“If all sensors fail, if everything fails it will still make a landing provided the propulsion system works well. This is how it has been designed. Even if two of the engines do not work also this time the lander will be able to land. It has been designed in such a way that it should be able to handle multiple failures. If the algorithms work well we should be able to do a vertical landing,” ISRO chairperson S Somanath said earlier this month, referring to the mission’s landing systems.

Watch Hindustan Times' live telecast of the Vikram lander here

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa said, “I would like to congratulate India, particularly as you speak about the need for cooperation in Space, in a few hours India's spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 will be landing on the moon. We congratulate you. This for us, as the BRICS family, is a momentous occasion and we rejoice with you. We join you in the joy of this great achievement.”

'Chandrayaan-3' mission operations team members are monitoring the sequential execution of commands ahead the arrival of Lander Module (LM) at the designated point on the moon at ISRO in Bengaluru.

Yoga guru Ramdev performed a “yagya” in Acharyakulam campus while priests recited ‘Hanuman Chalisa' at a temple on the banks of the Ganga for the successful landing of Chandrayan-3. 

John Cena, popular Hollywood actor and WWE superstar, has posted an image of the tricolour on his Instagram. Read more

A host of companies, including Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Hindustan Aeronautics, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), MTAR Technologies, and Mishra Dhatu Nigam, are the key suppliers for ISRO's Chandrayaan-3's Lander Module (LM).

India proved that the sky is not the limit, West Bengal Governor CV Anand Bose said extending his wishes to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) scientists who are part of the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

Chandrayaan-3 consists of an indigenous Lander module (LM), Propulsion module (PM) and a Rover.

Former director of ISRO Dr Surendra Pal said, "I am confident just like the ISRO scientists that we will do much better because a lot of changes have been done in comparison to Chandrayaan 2...A lot of algorithms have been changed...Absolute calibration is done. The Lander has the capacity to hover. The landing area has been increased from 2.5 km to 4 km..."

Union minister Anurag Thakur extended his wishes to the ISRO team ahead of the lunar landing of Chandrayaan-3. The Union minister said that all of us are waiting for the moment when the Indian mission becomes successful.

ISRO's S Somanath said that the overall process of landing may take around 30 minutes. “The exact timeline would depend on the systems and landing con ditions. We have to decide whether to land at the first visible site or choose another safer spot based on hazard detection,” he said.

Just take 30 minutes today to witness a billion dreams come true! 

Wishing Indians 'good luck', Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams said adding that she will cheer for India as Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander module attempts a touchdown. 

"I am super excited for Chandrayaan-3 on the 23rd of August. Good luck, we are cheering for you," the veteran NASA astronaut said in a video message. 

Thank you Sunita Williams!

Rakesh Sharma who is the first Indian in space, said that knowing the way ISRO functions, “I can proudly say that Chandrayaan 3 will have a safe landing”. 

We hope so too, we do!