'Every Indian household is celebrating,' says PM Modi after Chandrayaan landing

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday (August 23) congratulated ISRO scientists for the successful Chandrayaan-3 mission, under which India landed its rover on the south pole of the Moon.

PM Modi joined the ISRO team virtuallyfrom South Africa's Johannesburg, where he is present to attend the ongoing BRICS summit.

"I may be in South Africa but my heart has always been with the Chandrayaan mission," PM Modi said.

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"When we see such historic moments it makes us very proud. This is the dawn of new India," the PM said.

"We are witness to the new flight of new India; new history has been written.This is historic moment and sounds the bugle for a developed India. No country has reached there (the South Pole of the Moon) before. With the hard work of our scientists we have reached there," PM Modi said while addressing the ISRO scientists.

Modi's message for the world

PM Modi made it clear Wednesday that the success of India's Lunar mission was not India's alone but a win for the whole humanity. “India’s successful Moon mission is not India’s alone. This is a year in which the world is witnessing India’s G20 presidency. Our approach of one earth, one family, one future is resonating across the globe,” Modi said.

"Therefore, success belongs to all of humanity, and it will help other nations, all countries from the world are capable of achieving such feats," he said.

He endedhis address to an outpouring of applause from the jubilant control room.

Later, PM Modi also talked to ISRO chief S Somanath over the phone and congratulated him for his team's success.

India's Lunar mission

India on Wednesday became the fourth nation in the world to achieve a successful soft-landing on the Moon, and the first to land a rover on the south pole of the Moon, which is considered as a way more difficult terrain having deep craters and high mountains.

The south pole region is considered an area of key scientific and strategic interest for spacefaring nations, as scientists believe the region to be home to water ice deposits.

Maggie Lieu, a space expert was quoted by BBC as saying that"the hardest part is over" for the mission.

"When it was going into fine braking I was kind of worried as that's where they failed previously," but now the landing has taken place, it's "really exciting", said said.

In some time, India's space agency ISRO is expected to put the rover onto the Moon's surface.

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