American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson on Wednesday congratulated India for landing Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon and joining Russia, USA and China as the only countries to achieve this feat.
Taking to his social media 'X', Tyson tweeted, "Congratulations to India for landing Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon — joining Russia, USA, & China as the only countries to have achieved this feat. More importantly, it's the first mission of any country to arrive near the Lunar South Pole - a possible location for future Moon bases."
He also highlighted that it is the first mission of any country to arrive near the Lunar South Pole.
Moreover, Tyson shared a picture of the Indian flag along with his tweet.
Earlier, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Administrator Bill Nelson on Wednesday congratulated India and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3.
He also hailed the India-US partnership on Artemis Accords which aims to establish a common vision via a practical set of principles, guidelines, and best practices.
“Congratulations @isro on your successful Chandrayaan-3 lunar South Pole landing! And congratulations to #India on being the 4th country to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon. We're glad to be your partner on this mission!” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said on X (formerly Twitter).
It was a giant leap for India on Wednesday evening as the Chandrayaan-3 lander module successfully landed on the moon's South Pole, making it the first country to have achieved the historic feat and bringing to an end the disappointment over the crash landing of the Chandrayaan-2, four years ago.
Officials at India's space agency ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru broke into applause after the Vikram began its powered vertical descent towards its landing site."India is on the moon!" Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is currently attending the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg said. He watched the live telecast and as soon as the touchdown happened he sported a big smile and waved the tricolour.
The countdown of the Vikram hovered at 150 metres, then 130 metres, and 50 metres and decelerated as approached the moon's service before finally touching down on the lunar surface.
As the Vikram lander carrying the Pragyaan rover in its belly touched down on the lunar surface, it marked a giant leap in India's spacefaring journey providing a well-deserved finale to ISRO's long years of toil.
Billions of people across India and globally closely monitoring the much-awaited event. More so after Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashed on Sunday after spinning out of control.
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