Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) [India]: Over 200 school students arrived at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota on Friday to witness the launch of ISRO’s much anticipated Chandrayaan-3 mission.
“…I feel very confident, I want to become an astronaut like Kalpana Chawla. I am excited..,” Subhashini, a student said.
Sundari, a teacher who accompanied the group of students thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ISRO for the mission and said that the students are very excited.
“A very happy moment for us. It is exciting for us to be here. Students are very excited to see Chandrayaan-3 launch live. We are thankful to PM Modi and ISRO…”, she said.
July 14, 2023 will always be etched in golden letters in the annals of India’s space sector history, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with only hours left for the launch of the much-awaited Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission.
“This remarkable mission will carry the hopes and dreams of our nation,” PM Modi tweeted.
The GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle, which will release the moon lander and rover into space, will lift off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota at 14:35:17 pm.
The journey from Earth to the moon for the spacecraft is estimated to take about a month and the landing is expected on August 23. Upon landing, it will operate for one lunar day, which is approximately 14 Earth days. One day on the Moon is equal to 14 days on Earth.
The ‘Launch Rehearsal’ simulating the entire launch preparation and process was concluded earlier by the ISRO.
Chandrayaan-3 will be ISRO’s follow-up attempt after the Chandrayaan-2 mission faced challenges during its soft landing on the lunar surface in 2019 and was eventually deemed to have failed its core mission objectives.
Chandrayaan-3’s development phase commenced in January 2020 with the launch planned sometime in 2021, but the Covid-19 pandemic brought an unforeseen delay to the mission’s progress.
K Sivan, former director of ISRO, told media that the success of mission Chandrayan-3 will give a morale boost to programmes like Gaganyan, India’s first manned space mission.
