PM Modi declares Aug 23 as 'National Space Day', Chandrayaan-3 touchdown point as 'Shiva Shakti'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flew down to Bengaluru on Saturday directly from the Greek capital of Athens to interact with ISRO scientists on the successful Chandrayaan-3 mission and announced the decision to name the place where lander ‘Vikram’ touched down on the lunar surface as “Shiva Shakti Point”.

Terming the success of Chandrayaan-3 mission as an “extraordinary moment” in the history of India’s space programme, he said the place where the Chandrayaan-2 lander crash-landed on the Moon's surface in 2019 would be known as “Tiranga Point”.

Modi also declared that August 23, the day the Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down on the lunar surface, would be celebrated as “National Space Day”. The prime minister turned emotional while addressing the team of scientists at ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), as he showered lavish praise on them for their dedication and passion.

ISRO Chairman S Somanath briefed him about the Chandrayaan-3 mission. A large number of people, many of them holding aloft national flags, gathered outside the HAL Airport and Jalahalli Cross, which is close to ISTRAC, to greet the prime minister.

On Wednesday evening as the Lander Module of Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully touched down on the lunar surface, Modi had joined the ISRO team at Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISTRAC virtually from Johannesburg, where he was attending the 15th BRICS summit.

Modi had also flown down to Bengaluru on the night of September 6, 2019 to watch the planned touch down of Chandrayaan-2 mission’s ‘Vikram’ lander. But in the early hours of September seven, barely minutes before it was slated to land, ISRO lost contact with the craft, just 2.1 km above the lunar surface.

(With agency inputs)