Dehradun: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement that August 23, the day the ISRO successfully placed its lander on the moon's unexplored south face, will be celebrated every year as ’National Space Day'.
Taking to his official handle on social media platform X, the Uttarakhand CM posted, "Respected Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji has announced that 23rd August will be celebrated as "National Space Day". Surely this historic day will boost the morale of all the dedicated scientists as well as the future generation of our country and all the countries of the world will be introduced to the potential of a New India." Earlier, on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his address to ISRO scientists at the agency's command centre in Bengaluru, said August 23 will be marked as 'National Space Day' every year to celebrate India's successful maiden lunar landing mission.
He announced further that the spot on the lunar South Pole where the 'Vikram' lander touched down would, henceforth, be known as the ‘Shiv Shakti Point' while the spot where the Chandrayaan-2 left its imprint will be called the 'Tiranga Point'.
“This will serve an inspiration for every effort that contributes to nation building. It will also serve as a lesson for us that a failure doesn't mean the end of the world," PM Modi said.
Prime Minister Modi was overcome with emotion as he addressed scientists, involved in the Chandrayaan-3 project, at ISRO's command centre in Bengaluru.
"On August 23, India raised the tricolour on the moon. We have resolved to mark this day every year as the 'National Space Day'," PM Modi said. India became the first country to successfully place a lander on the lunar South Pole on Wednesday evening.
India also became only the fourth country after the US, Russia and China to conduct a successful lunar landing mission. Earlier, on Saturday, PM Modi was accorded a warm reception as he arrived at the ISRO headquarters. He met the team of scientists involved in the country's third lunar mission and was pictured giving a hug to ISRO chief S Somanath.
Locals, holding up posters and the tricolour had lined the streets outside the airport to welcome PM Modi.
Upon landing at the HAL airport in Bengaluru, he waved at the cheering locals and raised the slogan "Jai Vigyan Jai Anusandhan (Glory to Science, Glory to Research)" —ANI
