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 history will be created today when under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi India’s flag will be hoisted on the moon. “The entire country is eagerly waiting for this moment. The efforts of the scientists and the government for the last nine years will be fulfilled today. We are moving towards success. With this India has been scaling new heights,” said the Union Minister. 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 hours IST. The landing comes four years after the Chandrayaan-2 mission ended in part failure.
This would make India only the fourth country in the world -- after the United States, Russia, and China -- to operate a rover on the Moon and the first to land near the forbidding South Pole. The Rs 600 crore Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14 onboard a Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM-3) rocket.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.