“Country set to script history today”: Jyotiraditya Scindia ahead of attempted lunar landing

Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) [India], August 23 (ANI): With hours to go for the attempted touchdown of the Chandrayaan-3 lander on the uncharted south pole of the Moon, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday said the country was on course to create history.

According to an official release from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Chandrayaan-3 lander is scheduled to touch down on the Moon’s south face at around 18:04 hrs IST.

“History will be created today. The whole country is eagerly waiting for the tricolour to go up on the lunar surface. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and through the relentless efforts of our scientists, our country is set to script history today,” Scindia told reporters on Wednesday.

“It is largely down to the hard work and excellence of our scientists and the efforts that our government has put in over nine years that our country is progressing and scripting success stories across fields. The people believe that the country will write new chapters of success in the coming days,” the Civil Aviation Minister added.

Earlier, wishing success to India’s third lunar mission, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told ANI, “The whole country is proud of our space programme. My heart is filled with joy and happiness. I want to thank all the scientists from the bottom of my heart as it is because of their excellence and hard work that we are on the cusp of history today.”

“I salute the determination of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, under whose leadership the country is breaking new grounds across spheres. Today is a day for every Indian to take pride in, to immerse in unbridled joy,” the CM added.

Meanwhile, special worship and prayers were performed across the state for the successful lunar landing. A special ‘Bhasma Aarti’ was performed at Mahakaleshwar temple in the Ujjain district on Wednesday morning.

Special worship and ‘Rudrabhishek’ were performed at Maa Vaishno Dham Adarsh Nava Durga Temple in the state capital, Bhopal.

A large number of devotees arrived at Bageshwar Dham in Chhatarpur district to offer special prayers for the success of India’s third lunar mission.

A ‘Havan Pujan’ was also performed at Khajrana Ganesh Temple in Indore district.

The live telecast of the landing operation will begin at 5:20 PM IST on Wednesday. Live broadcast of the landing will be available on the ISRO website, its YouTube channel, Facebook, and public broadcaster DD National TV from 5:27 PM IST on Aug 23, 2023.