Snippets of Information
Achievements - Space travel, research
* 24 Aug 2025
Chandrayaan-3 mission accomplished safe and soft-landing of Vikram Lander on the lunar surface on August 23, 2023. With this, India became the fourth country to land on the moon and first to land near the southern polar region of the moon. The soft-landing was followed by successful deployment of Pragyan Rover. The landing site was named as 'Shiv Shakti' point (Statio Shiv Shakti) and recognizing this achievement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proclaimed August 23 as "NATIONAL SPACE DAY" in India.
Source: isro.gov.in
*24 Aug 2025
Dr. Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai founded the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1969, and he is widely known as the "Father of the Indian space programme"
for his visionary leadership and his role in establishing space
technology for national development. He was instrumental in setting up
the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) in 1962,
which was the precursor to ISRO, and successfully launched the first Indian satellite, Aryabhata, in 1975.
Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha, widely regarded as the father of India's
nuclear science program, supported Dr. Sarabhai in setting up the first
rocket launching station in India. This center was established at Thumba
near Thiruvananthapuram on the coast of the Arabian Sea, primarily
because of its proximity to the equator. After a remarkable effort in
setting up the infrastructure, personnel, communication links, and
launch pads, the inaugural flight was launched on November 21, 1963 with
a sodium vapour payload.
As a result of Dr Vikram A Sarabhai's dialogue with NASA in 1966, the
Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) was launched during
July 1975 - July 1976 (when Dr.Vikram Sarabhai was no more).
Dr. Sarabhai started a project for the fabrication and launch of an
Indian Satellite. As a result, the first Indian satellite, Aryabhata,
was put in orbit in 1975 from a Russian Cosmodrome.
The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, (VSSC), a research institute
specialising in solid and liquid propellants for rockets located in
Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), capital of Kerala state, is named in
his memory.
In 1974, the International Astronomical Union at Sydney decided that a Moon Crater BESSEL in the Sea of Serenity will be known as the Sarabhai Crater.
Sources: isro.gov.in, Google AI Overview
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