Chandrayaans’ Tryst With Moon - Jawahar, Shivashakti and Tiranga Points

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi made mega announcements today, declaring August 23 - the day Chandrayaan-3 touched down the Moon surface - as National Space Day and naming the touchdown point of Chandrayaan-3 as ‘Shivashakti’, he also recollected India’s first lunar expedition Chandrayaan-1 along with Chandrayaan-2. He named the point where Chandrayaan-2 crash landed in 2019 as 'Tiranga Point.’

"India has decided to also name the point where Chandrayaan-2's Vikram lander crash-landed. India had decided not to name that point at that time as it did not feel right. But today, when the Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully landed on the Moon, the moment is right to dedicate a name to the point where Chandrayaan-2 left its mark. Since we now have "Har Ghar Tiranga" and the Tiranga is even there on the Moon, it is only apt to name the point 'Tiranga Point' - India's first contact with the surface of the Moon," PM Modi announced.

A walk through India’s Moon Missions 

With the launch of Chandrayaan-1, India made its first trip to the moon on October 22, 2008. The spacecraft is credited to have provided strong evidence for the presence of water on the lunar body. The spacecraft carried 11 scientific instruments built in India, USA, UK, Germany, Sweden and Bulgaria.

After the successful completion of all the major mission objectives, the orbit was raised to 200 km during May 2009. The satellite made more than 3400 orbits around the moon and the mission was concluded when communication with the spacecraft was lost on August 29, 2009. The orbiter also released an impactor that was deliberately crashed into the Moon, releasing debris that was analysed by the orbiting spacecraft's Science Instrument.

On November 14, 2008, the spacecraft dropped the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) near the Shackleton Crater on the lunar surface to measure atmospheric constituents. Marking its presence, the impact site was named Jawahar Sthal (Jawahar Point). Notably, the MIP crash landed on the lunar surface on Children's Day, also the birth date of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. 

Chandrayaan-2

Chandrayaan-2 was the second lunar exploration mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and was launched in 2019. On August 20, 2019, Chandrayaan-2 was successfully inserted into lunar orbit. On September 02, 2019, the lander which carried the payloads—Vikram Lander—was separated from the Orbiter in preparation for landing. Subsequently, communication from the lander to the ground stations was lost. The mission failed in its lunar phase as its lander 'Vikram' crash landed into the surface of the moon following anomalies in the braking system in the lander while attempting a soft landing on September 7, 2019.

Chandrayaan-3 

The spot on the Moon where Chandrayaan-3's lander Vikram touched down on the lunar surface will be known as 'Shivashakti Point', Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced today (August 26) while addressing the scientists of ISRO in Bengaluru soon after returning from his two-nation visit to South Africa and Greece. 

India on August 23 scripted history with the success of the Chandrayaan-3 moon mission and became the first nation in the world to land on the south pole of the lunar surface. With the launch of Chandrayaan-3 on July 14, 2023, India also became the fourth nation in history to land on the lunar surface, after the United States, the erstwhile Soviet Union, and China.

BJP attacks the Grand Old Party 

Taking pride in the party’s mega announcements, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson, Shehzad Poonawalla launched a scathing attack against Congress and took to the micro-blogging site X (former Twitter) saying, "Had it been UPA they would have never sent Chandrayaan 2 & 3 & if they did, they would have named it Indira Point and Rajiv Point".