Lucknow:
Scores of students from madrassa offered prayers in Lucknow for the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the south pole of the moon.
Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the moon on August 23, 2023 (Wednesday), around 18:04 IST.
Lucknow Imam Eidgah Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali said, “Children offered namaz at Darul Uloom Farangi Mahal Lucknow and prayed for the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3.”
“These students at madrassa also study science, so they have a lot of curiosity regarding the moon landing mission. We extend our heartiest congratulations to all the scientists and officials of ISRO. If the landing is successful tomorrow on the unexplored lunar south pole, India will be the first country to successfully do this,” said Mahali.
Live actions will be available on the ISRO website, its YouTube channel, Facebook, and public broadcaster DD National TV from 17:27 IST on August 23, 2023.
On Monday, the Uttar Pradesh government instructed all schools and educational institutions to organise a one-hour gathering between 5:15 pm to 6:15 pm, so that students can watch the soft landing of the Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander module on the moon’s surface.
Earlier on Sunday, Russia’s moon mission failed after its Luna-25 spacecraft spun out of control and smashed into the moon.
Notably, the ‘Vikram’ lander module of the spacecraft successfully separated from the propulsion module on Thursday, and subsequently underwent crucial deboosting maneuvers and descended to a slightly lower orbit.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission’s lander is named after Vikram Sarabhai (1919–1971), who is widely regarded as the father of the Indian space program.
A GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle was used for the launch of the spacecraft that was placed in the lunar orbit on August 5 and since then it has been through a series of orbital maneuvers been lowered closer to the moon’s surface.
It has been more than a month since the Indian Space Research Organization launched the Chandrayaan-3 mission on July 14.
The spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota. The stated objectives of Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission, are to demonstrate a safe and soft landing, rover roving on the moon’s surface, and in-situ scientific experiments.
The approved cost of Chandrayaan-3 is Rs 250 crores (excluding launch vehicle cost). Chandrayaan-3’s development phase commenced in January 2020 with the launch planned sometime in 2021. However, the Covid-19 pandemic brought an unforeseen delay to the mission’s progress.