Moon Has Changed From A Symbol Of Aspiration To One Of Achievement: N Chandrasekaran

With the success of the Chandrayaan-3, the moon has changed from a symbol of aspiration to one of achievement and a simple glance every night upwards will be a reminder of what India as a nation has accomplished and what more it is capable of achieving in the future, B20 Chair N Chadrasekaran said on Friday.

In his speech at the B20 Summit India, 2023 here, Chandrasekaran reminded the gathering that it was a "great privilege" to address the gathering specially "during the week that India successfully soft-landed a spacecraft on the moon.

He said the moon has been "a symbol of aspiration for a long time", adding, "We say shoot for the moon when we want to strive for the impossible. For a millennia, India's greatest poets have gazed up at the moon and wondered at the unfathomable distance between us and the moon".

Chandrasekaran further said, "But today we see the moon in a new light. Last week, millions and millions of Indians and those around the world witnessed the landing either on the television or online. For them the moon has changed from a symbol of aspiration to one of achievement."

Now, he said, "every night a simple glance upwards will be a reminder of what we as a nation have accomplished and more of what we are capable of achieving in the future."

India on Wednesday joined an elite group of three nations to have sent a spacecraft on the moon as Chandrayaan-3 landed a rover on the lunar surface to explore the uncharted territories near the south pole.

The erstwhile Soviet Union, the US and China have successfully carried out soft landings on the moon and even getting back to earth samples of soil and rocks from the lunar surface.

India's third lunar mission -- Chandrayaan-3 -- landed near the south pole of the moon, a place where no spacecraft has travelled so far.