Hummingbird News Desk
NEW DELHI, 26 NOV: India marked the 60th anniversary of its first sounding rocket launch from Thumba in Kerala, a significant event that coincided with the historic achievements of the Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya-L1 missions in the year 2023. Union Minister of State for Space, Jitendra Singh, made the announcements during a commemorative event at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.
In a momentous declaration, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proclaimed August 23rd as ‘National Space Day,’ commemorating the day Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the Moon. Speaking at the event, Jitendra Singh highlighted the proud coincidence of the Diamond Jubilee and the groundbreaking feats of the contemporary space missions.
The ceremony at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre included the symbolic launch of a sounding rocket from the same space pod that witnessed the inaugural launch on November 21, 1963. Pramod P Kale, who had originally announced the countdown six decades ago, reprised his role in a symbolic gesture.
Addressing the media, Jitendra Singh emphasized the success of Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya-L1 as a testament to India’s indigenous capabilities, echoing the visionary aspirations of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the founding father of India’s space program. Singh highlighted Sarabhai’s unwavering confidence in India’s potential and acumen, despite resource constraints.
“Building on the success of Indian space initiatives over the last 4 to 5 years, including Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya L1 missions, PM Modi has set ambitious goals for ISRO,” said Singh. The goals include India’s first manned space mission, ‘Gaganyaan,’ by 2025, a lunar sample return mission, ‘Bharatiya Antariksha Station’ (Indian Space Station) by 2035, and the first Indian to set foot on the Moon by 2040.
Singh highlighted that India’s space program is now at an equal pace with the world’s leading space agencies. He emphasized that while NASA might have been the first to land on the Moon, it was India’s Chandrayaan-1 that made the groundbreaking discovery of water molecules on the lunar surface. Chandrayaan-3 has now achieved another milestone by landing on the South Pole of the Moon for the first time.
As India celebrates the Diamond Jubilee of its first sounding rocket launch, the nation looks forward to a future filled with ambitious space exploration missions, solidifying its position on the global space exploration stage.
Tags: #DiamondJubilee #SoundingRocketLaunch #Chandrayaan3 #IndianSpaceStation
