Incredible feat: Top US leaders celebrate India's lunar success

Washington, Aug 24 (IANS) From Vice President Kamala Harris to Ambassador Eric Garcetti, top American leaders congratulated India for the historic touchdown of Chandrayaan-3 on the southern polar region of the moon, calling it an 'incredible feat'.

"Congratulations to India for the historic landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the southern polar region of the moon," Indian-American Kamala Harris wrote on X on Thursday as India became the fourth country to achieve the feat after the US, China, and the erstwhile Soviet Union.

"It’s an incredible feat for all the scientists and engineers involved. We are proud to partner with you on this mission and space exploration more broadly," Harris said.

Last month, India signed the three-year-old Artemis Accords, a US-led international partnership on planetary exploration and research.

The Artemis Accords is closely linked to NASA's Artemis Program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon's surface, build a space camp there, and carry out in depth space exploration.

Congratulating the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which is Artemis Accords partner, NASA administrator Bill Nelson wrote on X: "Congratulations @isro on your successful Chandrayaan-3 lunar South Pole landing! And congratulations to #India on being the 4th country to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon. We’re glad to be your partner on this mission!"

Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna, who was in India this month to celebrate Independence Day, called it a "big moment" for the country.

"A big moment for India. Congratulations... I saw incredible ingenuity and dynamism across India in the delegation we recently led," Khanna said.

"Congratulations to ISRO and the people of India for the Chandrayaan-3's historic landing on the South Pole of the Moon. We look forward to deepening our partnership with India on space exploration in the years ahead," US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan wrote on X.

Taking on to X, US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, said he sees "exciting opportunities" ahead for the US and India.

"That’s how you stick a landing! Congratulations to India, @ISRO and the entire team on the successful landing of #Chandrayaan3! I can see exciting opportunities ahead for #USIndiaSpace collaboration," Garcetti said.

"India is the first country to ever land a craft on this part of the lunar surface," Congressman Brad Sherman said.

Encouraged by the success of its moon mission, ISRO Chairman S. Somanath said the Aditya-L1 satellite for the Sun mission will be launched during the first week of September.

According to him, the coronagraphy satellite will take about 120 days to travel about 15 lakh km to reach its destination to study the solar atmosphere.

ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 landed successfully after a 40-day journey starting from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota.