August 23 marks the day when India scripted history with the successful soft-landing of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the Moon's south pole. Not only did it become the first nation in the world to reach the lunar south pole, it is the fourth country behind the United States, China and the erstwhile Soviet Union to reach the Moon.
After the success, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief S Somanath experienced a heartwarming moment, when he received a particularly warm welcome from the flight crew and passengers while boarding on Indigo plane recently.
An Instagram post went viral where the Indigo crew greeted the ISRO chief. "Felt privileged getting a chance to serve Mr S. Somanath on board our INDIGO flight," read the caption of the video posted by air hostess Pooja Shah.
"May I announce the presence of Mr S Somanath, the chairman of ISRO, onboard our flight today. May I get a huge round of applause for Mr S Somanath and his team! We are proud to have you onboard, sir. Thank you so much for making India proud," she announced on the flight.
Her announcement was met with applause from the passengers and other crew members. Another airhostess presented him with some goodies and note of appreciation for the commendable work on the Chandrayaan-3 mission.
The success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission has bolstered India's position in the global space race. Since then, ISRO chief Somanath and his team has received love and appreciation from all around the world, from ecstatic people to jubiliant politicians.
Several social media users reacted positively to the viral post. A user wrote, "Thank you so much to you..for giving respect to real hero..India is changing for sure."
"He's so down to earth," said a person in the comments, while another user said, "That's really sweet of you to welcome our Chairman sir. Thank you for showing some love towards ISRO."
Chandrayaan-3 latest update
ISRO on Wednesday released new pictures of the Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander taken by the Praygan Rover. The 'image of the mission' was taken by the Navigation Camera onboard the Rover (NavCam)."
Earlier this week, ISRO released the first observations from the ChaSTE payload onboard Vikram. ChaSTE (Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment) measures the temperature profile of the lunar topsoil around the pole, to understand the thermal behaviour of the Moon's surface.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced the decision to name the spot where Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander made soft landing as 'Shiv Shakti Point’ and the site where the Chandrayaan-2 lander crash-landed on the Moon's surface in 2019 would be known as "Tiranga Point".
Also, August 23, the day the Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down on the lunar surface, would be celebrated as ‘National Space Day’, PM Modi had said.
ALSO READ | 'The best is coming soon...': ISRO says Chandrayaan-3's Pragyan to uncover Moon's secrets
