Card George Alencherry congratulates the scientists who worked on Chandrayaan-3. He also thanked “God for creating man with such wonderful talents." If the moon landing is successful in late August, India will be the fourth country in the world to have one of its spacecrafts make a soft landing on the moon.
Delhi (AsiaNews) – The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched Chandrayaan-3, the country’s third lunar exploration mission.
The lander is expected to touch down on the earth’s satellite on 23 August. If it is successful, India will be the fourth country after the United States, the former Soviet Union and China to carry out a soft landing on the Moon.
In a statement, Cardinal George Alencherry, major archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, praised the Indian scientists, who were not “distracted by past failures and disappointments. The whole nation is deeply indebted to them and is proud of their singular-minded dedication and hard work.”
The prelate goes onto say: “We also feel thankful to God for this great achievement. As the psalmist has beautifully expressed, our hearts are filled with gratitude at this glorious achievement of our brilliant scientists: ‘The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork’ (Ps. 19:1).”
What is more, “In these moments of glory and achievements, we become aware of the immense potentialities invested in man by God intellectually and creatively. When we offer accolades to our brilliant scientists, we are also praising God for creating man with such wonderful talents.”
Now “Let us continue our prayers for the success of the mission so that more fruitful research could be done for the good of the human race.”
The purpose of the Chandrayaan-3 mission is to explore the lunar south pole and collect samples.
India's Chandrayaan (Moon craft) programme began in 2003 with the first lunar probe in 2008 (Chandrayaan-1). The second mission (Chandrayaan-2) in 2019 partly failed when the lander was lost during landing. The price tag for Chandrayaan-3 is US$ 75 million.