Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla and the Axiom-4 mission crew safely returned to Earth after an 18-day stay at the International Space Station, splashing down off the coast of San Diego.
Unveiling his launch day playlist, the Indian pilot revealed that he loves to listen to Shah Rukh Khan's Swades song Yuh Hi Chala Chal.
Weighing 320 tonne at lift-off, the vehicle used larger strap-on motors to achieve higher payload capability.
Chandrayaan 3 follows the Chandrayaan 2 mission which did not achieve the desired soft landing on the surface of the moon in 2019, disappointing the scientists.
People gathered in educational institutions, offices, city squares and religious places to watch the Indian Space Research Organisation's live telecast of Chandrayaan-3's final descent to the uncharted surface of the lunar south pole.
The family of astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla in Lucknow is eagerly awaiting his safe return from the International Space Station after his 18-day mission. They express immense pride and emotion, sharing details of their conversations and the sights he showed them from space.
The Orion capsule returns to earth after a 26 day mission orbiting the Moon and back.
'Our vision for the future includes the creation of an active ecosystem, human space flight, a human space station.'
Vikram and Pragyan payloads are now in a power-off mode until the south pole of the lunar surface is back in the range of the Sun again.
Lucknow celebrated the successful return of astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla from the International Space Station (ISS). Family, friends, and the community rejoiced as Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to visit the ISS, made a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
The celebrations are set to continue through the day. CMS also arranged a live AXIOM mission broadcast, a replica of the ISS Cupola module, a "Defy Gravity" photo booth, telescope viewings, and a simulated Mission Control Centre.
Docking technology is crucial for sending people and cargo to space stations.
The race to the uncharted south pole of the Moon is quickening with India's Chandrayaan-3 and Russia's Luna-25 gearing up for lunar landings next week, each mission holding significant implications beyond the thrilling competition in the skies.
Even as the scientists and staff at Mission Operations Complex broke into applause, the core team members thanked all those who had worked on the mission. Quietly and without jingoistic boasting of their stupendous achievement. And that is the most remarkable aspect of ISRO -- they let their work do the talking, notes Minnie Vaid, author of Those Magnificent Women And Their Flying Machines, ISRO's Mission to Mars.
Sachin Tendulkar, Sania, Mirza, Anil Kumble and Virat Kohli hailed Moon mission Chandrayaan-3's successful landing
Minutes before making the announcement about losing communication with the 'Vikram' lander, ISRO Chairman K Sivan briefed the prime minister.
Shukla created history on Wednesday by embarking on a journey to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of a commercial mission operated by Axiom Space, along with three other astronauts.
The Lucknow-born Shukla, former NASA astronaut Mission Commander Peggy Whitson, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland, and Tibor Kapu of Hungary are part of the Axiom-4 mission that marks the return to space for the three nations.
India's Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and three other astronauts on Thursday reached the International Space Station as the Dragon spacecraft docked with the orbital laboratory.
According to the space agency, Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment measured the temperature profile of the lunar topsoil around the south pole, to understand the thermal behaviour of the Moon's surface.
Shukla shared these details in an 18-minute interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday from the International Space Station that is orbiting the earth at an altitude of 400 km.
The rover will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility.
The New York Times, The Washington Post, The BBC and The Guardian, among many other leading foreign media outlets, all carried stories on Chandrayaan-2, India's landmark moon mission.
For the Gaganyaan programme, LVM3 rocket is re-configured to meet the human rating requirements and has been christened as 'Human Rated LVM3', ISRO said and it would be capable of launching the Orbital Module to an Low Earth Orbit of 400kms.
Russia and China are 'seriously' considering a project to install a nuclear reactor on the Moon in the next decade, the official media in Moscow quoted the head of the Russian space corporation as saying.
The Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope instrument onboard 'Pragyan' rover of Chandrayaan-3 has 'unambiguously confirmed the presence of sulphur in the lunar surface near south pole, through first-ever in-situ measurements,' ISRO said on Tuesday.
The ISRO on Monday released images of the Lunar far side area captured by the Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Camera (LHDAC).
Of the 109 lunar missions during the period, 61 were successful and 48 had failed, it stated.
Four years after it broke many hearts, Indian Space Research Organisation's Chandrayaan is all set to soar towards the moon in its third expedition on Friday in an attempt to put the country in an elite club of nations that accomplished lunar missions with a soft landing.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully de-docked the SpaDeX satellites, a significant achievement that clears the path for future missions such as exploring the moon, human spaceflight, and building India's own space station. The de-docking, announced by Union Minister Jitendra Singh, follows a successful docking experiment conducted in January. The SpaDeX mission involved launching two satellites, SDX01 and SDX02, to demonstrate the docking technology in space.
The team led by researchers from the University of Hawai'i (UH) at Manoa in the US discovered that these electrons in Earth's plasma sheet are contributing to weathering processes -- breaking down or dissolving of rocks and minerals -- on the Moon's surface.
The Vikram lander was 100 kilometers away from LRO, near Manzinus crater in the Moon's south pole region, when LRO transmitted laser pulses toward it on December 12 last year.
The agency said it is currently receiving a signal from the lander, which is communicating as expected.
'The next decade will be even more transformative,' says Prime Minister Modi. 'We are moving from digital governance to global digital leadership.'
It is unclear if this episode will affect or prevent the lunar lander -- which was slated to land near the moon's south pole as soon as Monday -- from attempting a touchdown.
India is now on the Moon and the success of the lunar mission has sounded the bugle for the emergence of a developed nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday as Chandrayaan-3 landed successfully on the lunar surface.
The entire process being autonomous when the lander has to fire its engines at the right times and altitudes, use the right amount of fuel, and scan of the lunar surface for any obstacles or hills or craters before finally touching down.
Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander 'Vikram' chose a relatively flat region on the lunar surface to touch down, images captured by its camera showed.
The Moon Mineralogy Mapper or M3 has confirmed existence of water on moon by analysing the data collected from Chandrayaan-I.
While the historic success of Chandrayaan-3 is celebrated by Indians across the world, two untrumpeted engineering colleges in Kerala are basking in the glory of the key role played by some of their alumni in the crucial Moon mission.
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