Prime Minister Narendra Modi today praised Indian scientists hours before the launch of India's third lunar mission - Chandrayaan-3.
PM Modi said the mission will carry the hopes and dreams of the entire nation.
"Till Chandrayaan-1, the moon was believed to be a bone-dry, geologically inactive and uninhabitable celestial body while it is now seen as a dynamic and geologically active body with the presence of water and sub-surface ice," he said on Twitter.
"Maybe in the future, it can be potentially inhabited," the Prime Minister said.
PM Modi tweeted, "14th July 2023 will always be etched in golden letters as far as India's space sector is concerned. Chandrayaan-3, our third lunar mission, will embark on its journey."
India's Chandrayaan-3 will lift off at 2.35 pm today from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. A successful mission will make India the fourth nation to land on moon.
The Indian Space Research Organisation is keeping its fingers crossed, after its last moon mission in July 2019 went awry.
The Prime Minister, who is in France for a two-day official visit, was accorded a red-carpet welcome as he arrived in Paris yesterday.
He has become the first Indian Prime Minister to have been conferred with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, France's highest civilian and military honour.
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