Union Minister of State for Space, Jitendra Singh, commemorated the Diamond Jubilee of India’s inaugural sounding rocket launch in Thumba, Kerala. Singh highlighted that the year 2023 witnessed significant milestones with the Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya-L1 missions. Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared August 23 as ‘National Space Day’ to coincide with Chandrayaan-3’s lunar landing.
Addressing the 60th-anniversary event at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Singh emphasized the success of recent space endeavors, emphasizing India’s indigenous capabilities. The ceremonial launch of a sounding rocket, symbolically replicating the original 1963 launch, took place at the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launch Station.
Singh praised the achievements of Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya-L1, affirming Dr. Vikram Sarabhai’s visionary dream for India’s space program. He noted Sarabhai’s confidence in India’s potential despite resource constraints. Singh highlighted the government’s commitment to future space exploration, including the ‘Gaganyaan’ manned space mission by 2025, a lunar sample return mission, and the ‘Bharatiya Antariksha Station’ (Indian Space Station) by 2035, with the goal of the first Indian lunar landing by 2040.
Underlining India’s space program’s global standing, Singh pointed out Chandrayaan-1’s discovery of water molecules on the Moon. He emphasized that while NASA may have been the first to land on the moon, India’s Chandrayaan-3 achieved the first-ever South Pole landing on the lunar surface. The achievements underscore India’s advancement in space exploration on par with leading international space agencies.
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