“All of us waiting for the moment…”: Union Minister Anurag Thakur ahead of attempted lunar landing of Chandrayaan

Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], August 23 (ANI): Union Minister of Youth Affairs Anurag Thakur on Wednesday extended his wishes to the ISRO team ahead of the attempted lunar landing of Chandrayaan-3. 

The Union Minister said that all of us are waiting for the moment when Chandrayaan-3 mission becomes successful. 

Speaking to reporters, Thakur said, “…India has made a huge leap in the Space sector. All of us are awaiting the moment when Chandrayaan-3 mission becomes successful. This will put India among the very few countries in the world that have made significant contributions to the Space sector…”

Meanwhile, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Wednesday said that it is all set to initiate the Automatic Landing Sequence (ALS) ahead of the attempted landing of the country’s lunar mission. 

A post on ISRO’s official handle on X, formerly Twitter, read, “All set to initiate the Automatic Landing Sequence (ALS). Awaiting the arrival of the Lander Module (LM) at the designated point, around 17:44 Hrs. IST. Upon receiving the ALS command, the LM activates the throttleable engines for powered descent.”

The attempted soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon’s south pole has been scheduled for around 18:04 IST, with the powered descent of the Vikram lander expected at 1745 IST.

The live telecast of the landing operations at Mission Operation Complex (MOX) will begin at 1720 IST. Live broadcast of the landing will be available on the ISRO website, its YouTube channel, Facebook, and public broadcaster DD National TV from 17:27 IST on Aug 23, 2023.

This mission, if it turns out to be fruitful, will make India the only country to have marked its presence on the lunar south pole which is considered to be difficult for its rough and harsh conditions, and fourth – after US, China, and Russia – to have successfully landed on the moon’s surface.

The spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota on July 14. A GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle was used for the launch of the spacecraft that was placed in the lunar orbit on August 5 and since then it has been through a series of orbital manoeuvres been lowered closer to the moon’s surface.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in South Africa to attend the 15th BRICS Summit, will virtually witness the historic landing attempt on the lunar surface as part of the country’s third lunar mission — Chandrayaan-3.