President Ranil Wickremesinghe has extended heartiest congratulations to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the successful lunar landing of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft.
“Sri Lanka is proud of this historic and momentous achievement”, Wickremesinghe said in a letter addressed to PM Modi.
In a letter addressed to Indian PM Narendra Modi, President Ranil Wickremesinghe extended his heartiest congratulations to the Prime Minister, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the people of India, on the remarkable achievement of Chandrayaan-3’s successful soft landing on the lunar south pole, and that being the first time in history.
The President upheld that Sri Lanka having India as the closest neighbour sharing a robust timeless relationship and with both countries being members of the South Asian family, and observed that, it is with immense pride that the nation is celebrating this historic and momentous achievement, the PMD reported.
Sri Lankan leader said PM Modi’s generous gesture of dedicating this accomplishment to all of mankind will inspire generations to pursue the advancement of scientific and technological progress.
He bestowed best wishes for success in India’s endeavours to attain its future vision of exploring other planets in the solar system.
Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 – which means “moon vehicle” in Hindi and Sanskrit – made history on Wednesday (Aug. 23) as it successfully landed on the moon, in a mission seen as crucial to lunar exploration and establishing India’s standing as a moon power.
India’s mission became the first the land on the South Pole region of the moon.
This was India’s second attempt to land a spacecraft on the moon and came less than a week after Russia’s Luna-25 mission failed. In 2019, ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 mission successfully deployed an orbiter but its lander crashed.
The Chandrayaan-3 is expected to remain functional for two weeks, running a series of experiments including a spectrometer analysis of the mineral composition of the lunar surface.
Rough terrain makes a South Pole landing difficult, and a first landing is historic. The region’s ice could supply fuel, oxygen and drinking water for future missions.
-with inputs from agencies
