“This Moment Is Unprecedented”: PM Modi As Chandrayaan-3 Lands On Moon

India sent out a collective whoop as it became the first nation to land a spacecraft on the Moon’s south pole. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is South Africa for the BRICS summit, virtually witnessed the landing attempt of India’s moon mission – Chandrayaan-3.

“This moment is precious and unprecedented. This moment is the jaighosh of new India. This moment is the strength of 1.4 billion heartbeats. Success of amrit varsha in this phase of amrit kaal,” said the PM, in an online address to the nation from South Africa.

India also joins a select club of Russia, the United States and China – who have previously achieved a controlled landing on the lunar surface.The landing comes days after a Russian probe crashed in the same region and after India’s own failed attempt in 2019. The mission was launched nearly six weeks ago in front of thousands of cheering spectators, but took much longer to reach the Moon than those of the Apollo missions in the 1960s and 1970s, which arrived in a matter of days.