'Proud moment for India and diaspora': Indiaspora's Rangaswami on Chandrayaan-3 landing

New Delhi, Aug 23

Indian-American entrepreneur M. R. Rangaswami on Wednesday said it is a proud moment for both India and its diaspora as Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander module attempts to land on the moon's surface today.

Rangaswami is the founder Indiaspora, a leading US-based non-profit, which is hosting 200 diaspora leaders from 25 countries for a G20 Forum in New Delhi from August 22 to 24.

"Today is a proud moment for India and the diaspora. I think it is 5.25 pm... we are going to switch on the live streaming of Chandrayaan-3," Rangaswami said in a video message as he kicked off a discussion on 'The Road to India@100'.

The event, which is bringing influential voices from around the world to deliberate on the diaspora's role in India's march towards 2047, is taking place in the run-up to the 18th summit of the G20 nations.

The live telecast of the much-anticipated Chandrayaan-3 event will be available on the ISRO website, its YouTube channel, Facebook, and public broadcaster DD National TV from 5:27 p.m.

People from across the country have been offering special prayers for the success of the mission, which was launched on July 14 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

The Vikram lander will begin its descent towards the moon surface from an altitude of 25 km at a velocity of 1.68 km per second, which is nearly 6048 km per hour -- almost ten times the velocity of an airplane.

The success of the moon mission is of prime importance to India, which will become the fourth country to master the soft-landing technology on the lunar surface after the US, China and the erstwhile Soviet Union.

In addition, it will also become the first country to reach the unexplored larger south pole of the moon.

Via this mission, India will understand the lunar surface better but also its potential for human habitation in the future.