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‘Salute passengers of Chandrayaan-3’: Rajasthan minister's howler sparks row
Ashok Chandna made the slip and hailed the "passengers on Chandrayaan-3" and got brutally trolled for his hilarious comment.
In a bizarre incident, Rajasthan sports minister Ashok Chandna made a massive gaffe on Wednesday while expressing his happiness over India's historic Chandrayaan-3's successful lunar landing and congratulated the non-existent passengers of the spacecraft, news agency PTI reported.
Chandna made the slip and hailed the "passengers on Chandrayaan-3" and got brutally trolled for his hilarious comment. Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander carries a rover, Pragyan, and no passengers. It isn't a human space mission.
"Agar safe landing hui, to jo yatri gaye hain hamare unko salaam karta hu (If we are successful and make a safe landing, I salute the passengers),” he told reporters hours before India scripted history by successfully landing on Moon's south pole.
“Our country has taken a step further in science and space research. I congratulate the countrymen for this,” he further said.
The goof-up by the Congress minister invited a plethora of users who used the opportunity to make jokes. While some questioned the “scientific temper” of Rajasthan minister, others hailed and saluted ‘Gems of Congress’.
"Landing safe nahi hui to shayad ye shradhanjali bhi denge yatriyon ko (If the landing is not safe then maybe he will also pay tribute to the passengers)," a user commented.
Chandrayaan-3 made a successful soft-landing on the moon Wednesday evening, making India only the fourth country after the United States, Russia and China, to do so and first to reach its uncharted south pole.
Officials at Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) headquarters in Bengaluru broke into applause after the Vikram began its powered vertical descent towards its landing site."India is on the moon!" PM Modi who is currently attending the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg said. He watched the live telecast and as soon as the touchdown happened he sported a big smile and waved the tricolour.
ISRO officially declared the successful landing in a post on X, saying, "'India, I reached my destination and you too!': Chandrayaan-3."
The mission aims to study the Moon's geology, its water resources, and its potential for future human exploration.
