Lauding the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the successful launch of lunar mission Chandrayaan-3, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said it was testimony to the vision, foresight, determination and accomplishments of all previous Prime Ministers, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “Today, more than a billion of us look to the sky, beaming with pride. Chandrayaan-3 is the fruit of decades of labour by the scientific community since the launch of India’s space programme in 1962, followed by the creation of ISRO in 1969. The success of this mission will make us only the fourth nation to land a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. A truly incredible feat! Congratulations to the entire team at ISRO.”
Taking to Twitter, Mr. Kharge said, “Our collective happiness is over the moon. Thanks to the tremendous ingenuity, dedication, skill and hard work of our scientists, engineers and everyone involved in the successful launch of the Chandrayaan-3 Mission. We are extremely proud of each one of you for this remarkable achievement. We express our sincere gratitude to the extraordinary team at ISRO.”
He said said India’s lunar missions began with the historic Chandrayaan-1 in 2008 confirming the presence of water molecules on the Moon. Then Chandrayaan-2 also detected the presence of chromium, manganese and sodium for the first time through remote sensing.
“Today, Chandrayaan-3 is a testimony to the vision, foresight, determination and accomplishment of all our previous Prime Ministers, including Pandit Nehru ji, Lal Bahadur Shastri ji, Indira Gandhi ji, P V Narasimha Rao ji, Rajiv Gandhi ji, Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji and Manmohan Singh ji,” Mr. Kharge said, adding, “It is our sincere tribute to Dr. Vikram Sarabhai and Dr Satish Dhawan and countless visionary scientists who devoted their lives to establish and inculcate scientific temper for human and social development for our people.”
Recalling the journey of India’s space research, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Twitter, “Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) was set up in February 1962, thanks to Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai. Sarabhai created ISRO in August 1969. It was his vision and later that of Satish Dhawan that gave India’s space programme a unique developmental purpose.”
“Between 1972 and 1984, Dhawan guided and mentored the ISRO community in every way. Each of his successors, beginning with U R Rao, has taken forward the Sarabhai-Dhawan legacy and has made distinctive contributions. We salute and applaud the entire ISRO family today,” Mr. Ramesh added.
