Chandrayaan opens new vistas for India

The mission's success propels India to the threshold of multilateral joint space missions, exploration of outer space and use of celestial resources in the future

- K Radhakrishnan

As Vikram touched down on the surface of the Moon smoothly and safely on Wednesday evening, India became the fourth nation to softland an uncrewed craft on the lunar surface, and notably, the first to softland on the south pole of the Moon.

Every Indian rejoiced with pride while the whole world watched with awe our rising acumen in the arena of outer space under the leadership of Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, a space buff himself. The technological feats were executed brilliantly by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) along with a host of partners from industry, start-ups, and academia.

Space missions are exciting, but exacting too. They are complex pieces of technology and must operate for long, in the harsh and somewhat uncharted environment of outer space. India hurtled into space in 1962 with modest efforts in space science and rapidly grew on the bedrock of the indomitable vision of Dr Vikram Sarabhai and an exemplary organisational edifice crafted by professor Satish Dhawan. Risk management and failure recovery are part of the practice in rocket science.