The landing turned out to be a smooth affair in the end.
What scientists had described as “20 minutes of terror” turned out to be a rather smooth affair for Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander as it scripted history and touched down on the south pole of the Moon yesterday. ISRO has now given everyone a look at what one of the lander’s cameras saw as it inched ever closer to the lunar surface, carrying a billion hopes on its shoulders.
Posting a video of the historic moments, Isro posted on X (formerly known as Twitter), “Here is how the Lander Imager Camera captured the moon’s image just prior to touchdown.”
Here is how the Lander Imager Camera captured the moon’s image just prior to touchdown. pic.twitter.com/PseUAxAB6G
— ISRO (@isro) August 24, 2023
The high-resolution video from the imager camera shows the beautiful surface of the moon, pockmarked with craters, as the lander is about to complete its descent.
The last few seconds of the roughly two-minute clip appear to show Vikram slowing down considerably and then touching down on the lunar surface.
India created space history by becoming the first nation to carry out a successful soft-landing near the south pole of the Moon. It also entered the elite club of countries – Russia the US and China – which have achieved a soft landing on Earth’s only natural satellite.
