India Celebrates First National Space Day: 'Touching Lives While Touching The Moon'

India celebrates its first National Space Day on Friday (August 23, 2024) with the theme, "Touching lives while touching the Moon: India's space saga". The day commemorates the one-year anniversary of the successful moon landing of ISRO's Vikram Lander from Chandrayaan-3.

India made history on August 23, 2023 by becoming the fourth nation to successfully land on the Moon and the first to reach its southern polar region. To commemorate this monumental achievement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared August 23 as "National Space Day."

Also Read | India Makes History, Becomes First Country To Land On The Lunar South Pole: What Are The Mission's Objectives? What Does It Mean For India?

Taking to X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Ministers Amit Shah, Hardeep Singh Puri, Nitin Gadkari, and Mansukh Mandaviya expressed joy over India's space achievements.

Modi said his government has taken a series of futuristic decisions relating to this sector and will do even more in the times to come.

He said on X, “Greetings to everyone on the first National Space Day. We recall with great pride our nation’s achievements in the space sector. It is also a day to laud the contributions of our space scientists.” 

“Our Government has taken a series of futuristic decisions relating to this sector and we will do even more in the times to come,” he added.

Celebrations for National Space Day are taking place at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, with events streamed live on ISRO's official website and YouTube channel. The aim is to engage the public and inspire future generations to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

ISRO chairman S Somanath on Tuesday said the space agency has completed the design for the next round of moon missions – Chandrayaan 4 and 5 – and is in the process of seeking government approval for the same.

The Chandrayaan-4 mission includes bringing back moon rocks and soil to earth after a soft landing on the lunar surface, launching a spacecraft from the moon, demonstrating a space docking experiment in lunar orbit and getting the samples back to earth.

"We have a series of missions to go to the moon. Chandrayaan-3 is over. Now, design for Chandrayaan 4 and 5 has been completed and we are seeking approval of the government," Somanath told reporters.