The Vikram Lander of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft shared the first images of the Lunar surface during its historic descent on the Moon.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) shared the four pictures of the Lunar surface as India became the first country to land on the South Pole of the Moon on Thursday.
ISRO Chief credits all scientists for success
Meanwhile, ISRO Chairman S Somanath on Wednesday toasted the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, crediting it to the "pain and agony" of all the scientists who persevered on it, and expressed confidence that the space agency would similarly land a spacecraft on Mars in the coming years.
Acknowledging the contribution of a generation of leadership by the scientists of the country's space agency for the Chandrayaan-3 mission's success, he said this is an "incremental progress" and "definitely a huge one".
The Vikram lander landed near the South Pole of the moon after travelling about 3.84 lakh km for over 40 days.
The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft comprises a propulsion module (weighing 2,148 kg), a lander (1,723.89 kg) and a rover (26 kg).
After landing successfully, ISRO posted on X, "Chandrayaan-3 Mission: 'India, I reached my destination and you too!' :Chandrayaan-3".
The 19 minutes of suspense and excitement began at 5.45 p.m., as planned earlier, and ended at 6.05 p.m. with the lander touching down on the lunar soil.
Vikram Lander & Rover's Objectives
The mission will consist of a lander and a rover, designed to explore the surface and analyze its composition. The rover will carry scientific instruments to study the Moon's soil and gather data to enhance our knowledge of its mineral and elemental composition.
