India achieved a historic feat by becoming the first country to successfully land on the South Pole of the lunar surface. The Vikram lander executed a flawless touchdown near the lunar south pole on 23 August 2023.
- This achievement is significant as it marks a breakthrough in India’s space exploration efforts.
- The Automatic Landing Sequence (ALS) was initiated by ISRO for the Vikram Landing Module, enabling it to identify a suitable landing spot and perform a soft landing.
- The landing was a moment of anxiety for 20 minutes before the successful touch, followed by celebrations and jubilation among the ISRO team.
- ISRO Chairman S Somnath expressed gratitude and emphasized that the success was a result of lessons learned from past failures.
- The focus now shifts to the Chandrayaan-3 lander and Rover, with plans for the Rover Pragyan to roll down after reviewing data from the lander.
- The Project Director of Chandrayaan 3 mission, P Veeramuthuvel, credited the team’s hard work and hailed the flawless touchdown as a demonstration of India’s soft landing capabilities.
- The Mission Director, M Sreekanth, thanked the entire ISRO team for successfully accomplishing the challenging task of soft landing on the lunar surface.
- After the Vikram lander’s soft landing, ISRO established communication between the Chandrayaan-3 Lander and MOX-ISTRAC, Bengaluru.
- Images captured by the Lander Horizontal Velocity Camera during descent were shared on social media by ISRO, revealing the lunar surface at close proximity.
Q.: Which country recently achieved the historic feat by becoming the first country to successfully land on the South Pole of the lunar surface?
a) China
b) Russia
c) United States
d) India
Ans : India
