Chandrayaan: The Indian Saga

"A dream is not that which you see while sleeping, it is something that doesn't let you sleep". Indians won't forget these words quoted by our former president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who also was the project leader of ISLV at ISRO. His saying comes true with the success of the Chandrayaan 3 mission led by another dreamer S. Somanath. And it marked the strength of India as an independent nation in the whole world and the Moon. As our childhood stories say, failure is the stepping stone to success and its always the tortoise who wins the race at the end.

The Chandrayaan Trilogy

The Chandrayaan- moon (chandra) vehicle (yana)- programme [Indian Lunar Exploration Programme] is an ongoing series of outer space expeditions carried out by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The mission was developed for the study of the Moon. Chandrayaan 3 was a success, making India the fourth country to land on the lunar surface after the Soviet Union, the US, and China.

The mission involved three attempts. Chandrayaan 1 was launched on 22 October 2008 which was a big success. Detection of water on the surface of the moon was a remarkable outcome of the mission. Later amidst innumerable obstacles and postponing, Chandrayaan 2 was launched on 22 July 2019 aboard an LVM3 rocket. But the mission failed losing the lander while attempting to land. Succeeding K. Sivan, who led the Chandrayaan 2 mission, S. Somanath was appointed as the ISRO chief in 2022.

It was under Somanath, the third phase was framed and executed. Chandrayaan 3, the second lander and rover mission successfully made its way to the moon and landed on 23 August 2023. The mission cost 74 million dollars which is less than Christopher Nolan's exceptional movie "Interstellar".

"We failed. We learned. We succeeded." Somanath was in tears when he expressed his gratitude after the mission was accomplished.

Apollo and Artemis

Before Chandrayaan, precisely 50 years ago, the most prestigious attempt to the moon ever heard was the Apollo mission by NASA. Even though the mission was a failure it gained worldwide recognition. NASA initiated and performed three missions for the moon and all three were not completed. Amidst the odds, Apollo 11 was the most pompous mission in the history of NASA, when Neil Amstrong, the first human set foot on the moon. Five subsequent missions were carried out, ending in December 1972 with 12 astronauts having walked on the lunar surface.

Having Chandrayaan succeeded, NASA now planning to operate the Artemis 2 mission in 2024. Artemis 1 was an uncrewed voyage to the moon and it was called off by NASA due to technical errors. Through Artemis 2, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the moon. Apollo was held to set foot on the celestial objects, whereas Artemis aims to live and work in another world.

According to Greek mythology, Apollo and Artemis are the twins born to Leto and Zeus. Apollo represented the Sun and Artemis embraced the Moon.