The Rs 600-crore Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14. (File)
New Delhi:
Several world leaders at the G20 summit here congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the success of Chandrayaan-3, with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva praising India for achieving the feat “on a budget lower than that of the film Interstellar”, said sources.
At various sessions and meetings of the G20, many world leaders praised India for its moon mission and also praised the successful launch of Aditya L1, India’s first space mission to study the sun.
While British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak congratulated India and the entire world on Chandrayaan-3, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa praised the country for the achievement and recalled watching a broadcast of the moon landing while taking a break during the BRICS meeting. sources said.
“I congratulate you on the moon landing. But as an economist, I want to congratulate you for doing it on a budget lower than that of the movie ‘Interstellar’. Bravo!” International Monetary Fund (IMF) Director Georgieva was quoted by a source at a meeting during the G20.
Chandrayaan-3 landed on the moon’s south pole at 6:04 PM on August 23 after a flawless journey of 41 days, a giant leap for India’s space program.
The Rs 600-crore Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14 on board the Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM-3) rocket.
The film “Interstellar”, a 2014 epic science fiction film co-written and directed by Christopher Nolan, was made at an estimated cost of around Rs 1,400 crore.
At the G20 Summit, Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong said: “Congratulations on the moon mission and also on the Aditya L1 mission.” Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth also congratulated India on the success of the Chandrayaan and Aditya L1 missions, saying it reflects India’s technological prowess and is an inspiration for “a journey into the future”.
At a bilateral meeting after the summit, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva congratulated Prime Minister Modi and India on the historic achievement of landing Chandrayaan-3 in the moon’s south polar region, as well as the successful launch of India’s first solar mission, Aditya. -L1, both major achievements that mark notable milestones in space exploration.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, her Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte and President of the Union of Comoros and African Union Chairman Azali Assoumani also praised India for the success of Chandrayaan-3 during the G20 sessions.
In the statement adopted on Saturday by G20 leaders in New Delhi, the grouping said: “We also congratulate India on the successful landing on the moon on August 23, 2023.”
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