So far the mission is on the dot, hope it will be a success, says former ISRO Chief Madhavan Nair

Witnessing the historic moment of the successful takeoff of the Chandrayaan-3 mission at his residence here, former Chairman of ISRO G Madhavan Nair on Friday congratulated the entire team of scientists at ISRO and hoped that the mission would be a success.

"I'm sure the first portion of the journey has started off very well. My compliments to the entire ISRO team," Nair told PTI soon after Chandrayaan 3 began its journey to the Moon in its precise orbit. Analysing the visuals being telecast live, he said that the takeoff was very smooth, and that continued to the second stage.

"Right now I have seen the cryogenic stage getting ignited. This is again the most critical event of the mission," the former ISRO chief said. He said that from the data available so far, the mission is on the dot, and he hoped that the mission would be a success.



The Chandrayaan-3 soft landing is planned for 5.47 pm on August 23, ISRO Chairman S Somanath said after the successful launch of the mission on Friday. Madhavan Nair said a successful Chandrayan-3 would be a boost to India's plans to send humans into space.

Noting that the Gaganyaan mission for human spaceflight too is progressing well, he said, "We are steadily progressing. There are many complicated processes to be finalised, including waste management, provision for food, and even the astronaut safety mechanism during any unfortunate events. But we are progressing."

He said the capacity of the launch vehicles is further strengthened through missions like Chandrayaan, and a soft landing is the most challenging thing in the mission. If Chandrayaan can achieve this mission, then India's bigger space ambitions would be on the right track, Nair added.