PM Modi To Witness Chandrayaan-3's Moon Landing Attempt Virtually

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in South Africa to attend the BRICS Summit, will today virtually witness the landing attempt of India's moon mission - Chandrayaan-3.

Chandrayaan-3's lander module, comprising of the lander Vikram and the rover Pragyan, will attempt to land on the south pole of the moon at 6.04 pm today. If successful, India will become the first country to land a spacecraft on the lunar body's south pole.

Excitement is running high across the country, with prayers being held for Chandrayaan's success, schools marshalling students to watch a live telecast of the event and space enthusiasts organising parties to celebrate.

The Rs 600 crore Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14 onboard Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM-3) rocket, for a 41-day voyage to reach near the lunar south pole.

The module would undergo internal checks and await the sunrise at the designated landing site, ISRO has said, adding that the powered descent -- to achieve soft-landing on the Moon's surface -- is expected to be initiated at around 5:45 pm on Wednesday.

A day before the scheduled touch-down, ISRO on Tuesday confirmed that the Chandrayaan-3 mission is on schedule.

India's second attempt to land on the moon after a failure in 2019 is being seen as a display of the tenacity of its scientific institutions.

During that attempt, PM Modi had flown to Bengaluru to watch the planned touch down of the lander. Even the mission failed, the space agency witnessed a heartfelt moment between the Prime Minister and former ISRO chief K Sivan.

PM Modi hugged and consoled Mr Sivan as he broke down, hours after the space agency announced it lost contact with the lander.