Why India, And The World, Is Celebrating Success Of Chandrayaan-3

For their Chandrayaan-3 success, the scientists and engineers at ISRO were given the first Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar prize.

In August last year, India became the first country to soft land a spacecraft near the South Pole of the Moon. A nail-biting 20 minutes of "terror" consumed most of the country as the Vikram lander module - carrying the Pragyan rover - descended to the lunar surface and touched down in one piece, releasing a flood of relief and joy at the Indian space agency's mission control.

Six other missions had attempted a soft landing last year. None succeeded, including an effort by Russia's Luna 25 that crashed 48 hours earlier. And to mark the first anniversary (on August 22) of India's success, the nation will celebrate National Space Day. A few months earlier, in April, a mission by the United Arab Emirates Lunar carrying a Japan-made lander crashed.

"It was such a beautiful day for India... I had no doubt in my mind - that we will hit the bullseye. I was at ease and the joy of my teammates was lovely..." Dr S Somanath, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, told NDTV, reliving the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission.