Chandrayaan-3: Rover Pragyan rolls out of Vikram lander; ISRO says 'India took a walk on the moon'

Chandrayaan-3's Pragyan rover has rolled out from the Vikram lander and is onto the lunar surface, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) informed today on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"Chandrayaan-3 ROVER: Made in India, Made for the MOON! The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander and India took a walk on the moon! More updates soon," the space agency said.

The development comes hours after Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander made a successful soft landing on the south pole of the Moon.  

In a giant leap for its space programme, India's Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar south pole at 6.04 pm on Wednesday, propelling the country to an exclusive club of four and making it the first country to land on the uncharted surface.

Shortly after the landing, ISRO said the communication line had been established between the lander Vikram and its command centre in Bengaluru. The space agency also shared the first image of the lunar surface after landing.

The space agency also shared images of the lunar surface taken by the Lander Horizontal Velocity Camera taken during the descent, which began at 5:45 pm this evening.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India is now on the Moon and the success belongs to all humanity.

Modi, who virtually joined from South Africa to witness the culmination of the space odyssey, lauded scientists for their efforts and said the success of the lunar mission has sounded the bugle for India to emerge as a developed nation.

ISRO Chief S Somanath said the success of Chandrayaan-3 gives Indian space scientists the confidence to undertake more challenging future missions.

"We have achieved soft landing on Moon. India is on the Moon," he said minutes after ISRO achieved the feat.

Also Read: Chandrayaan-3 success: Triumph of Indian innovation, human capital, says ex-NASA official