The Central government on Saturday declared August 23 of every year as 'National Space Day' to commemorate the success of the Chandrayaan-3 Mission on 23rd August 2023 with the landing of the Vikram lander and deployment of the Pragyaan Rover on the lunar surface.
India took a giant leap as ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the south pole of the moon on August 23, making it the first country to have achieved the historic feat. With the successful Chandrayaan-3 mission, India became the fourth country to master the technology of soft landing on the Moon after the US, China and the erstwhile Soviet Union.
August 23 as "NATIONAL SPACE DAY" to commemorate historic moment
In a gazette notification, the government said that August 23 marks an important milestone in the country's advancements in space missions, inspires younger generations towards enhanced interest in pursuing STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and provides a major impetus to the space sector.
"With the success of the Chandrayaan-3 Mission on 23rd August 2023 with the landing of the Vilcram lander and deployment of the Pragyaan Rover on the lunar surface, India joins an elite group of Space faring nations becoming the fourth country to land on the moon and the first nation to and near to South pole of the moon. The outcome of this historic mission will benefit mankind in the years to come. This day marks an important milestone in the Country's advancements in Space Missions, inspire younger generations towards enhanced interest in pursuing STEM and provides a major impetus to the Space sector," the official notification read.
"Now, therefore, the Government of India has declared the 23rd Day of August of every year as the "NATIONAL SPACE DAY" to commemorate this historic moment," it further added.
On August 29, the Union Cabine approved the proposal to celebrate August 23 as the 'National Space Day' marking the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his meeting with Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists in Karnataka's Bengaluru, announced that August 23 would be celebrated as 'National Space Day', thus marking the mega success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission.
PM Modi names landing site of lander as 'Shiv Shakti Point'
PM Modi announced the celebration of India's National Space Day on August 23 every year, naming the landing site of the lander as 'Shiv Shakti Point', and designating the point on the moon with symbols of Chandrayaan-2 as 'Tricolor Point'.
"There is a scientific tradition of naming the location of a touchdown. India has decided to name the lunar region where our Chandrayaan-3 landed. The place where Vikram lander descended will be known as Shiv Shakti Point. In Shiv, there is a resolution for the welfare of humanity and Shakti gives us the strength to fulfil those resolutions. This Shiv Shakti point of the moon also gives a sense of connection with the Himalayas to Kanyakumari", the Prime Minister said.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission
On August 23, India's Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 became the first to land on the uncharted south pole of the Moon. The soft-landing on moon propelled India into an elite group of nations. After landing on the Moon on August 23, both the lander and the rover, and payloads onboard had performed experiments one after the other so as to complete them within 14 Earth days (one lunar day), before pitch darkness and extreme cold weather engulfed the Moon.
The lander and rover — with a total mass of 1,752 kg — were designed to operate for one lunar daylight period (about 14 Earth days) to study the surroundings there. However ISRO is hoping they can be revived, now that the Sun has risen again on the Moon, and that they carry on with the experiments and studies there.
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Also Read: Chandrayaan-3: ISRO delays Pragyaan rover, Vikram lander reactivation by a day
