Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had missed being in India during the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) lunar mission Chandrayaan-3's successful moon landing earlier this week as he was in an overseas tour, straightly drove to meet and greet the ISRO scientists for making history and while addressing before them, he poured a huge praise and conferred a name to the mission's landing point on the Moon. 

Chandryaan-3's Vikram Lander Module (LM) had a soft and safe touchdown on the south pole of the Moon in its scheduled trajectory on August 23. With the landing, India became the only country to land on the south pole region and following the touchdown, the LM had released the Pragyan rover from its belly as it began traversing on the unexplored parts of the Moon. As the entire nation was watching the live landing, Prime Minister Modi joined the event virtually from South Africa in the sidelines of the BRICS summit.

After completing his South African tour, Modi flew to Greece where he had met the Greek President and the Prime Minister. When he emplaned from Greece to India, it was expected that he will land in Delhi as the regular protocol goes. However, he decided to land in Bengaluru directly to meet the ISRO scientists and to address them following Chandrayaan-3's successful landing on the Moon. 

Modi had arrived in Bengaluru on Saturday - August 26 and while leaving the airport, he said, "I could not stop myself as I was not in the country, but I decided to visit Bengaluru first and meet our scientists right after arriving in India." He straightly drove to the ISRO's headquarters in the city. Upon his arrival, he was welcomed by ISRO Chairman Somanath and addressing the scientists, the Prime Minister had congratulated them and made crucial announcements. 

Addressing the scientists, Modi said, "India will celebrate August 23 as National Space Day to mark the successful touchdown of Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander." The Prime Minister had also announced that the spot where the Chandrayaan-3's lander had landed will be known as 'Shiv Shakti'. He further announced that the place where Chandrayaan-2 left its footprint in 2019 will be called 'Tiranga Point'. He stated, "This will be an inspiration for every effort made by India. It will remind us any failure is not final." 

"I salute the efforts by scientists at ISRO. They have made us proud as a nation. The success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission is an extraordinary moment in the history of India's space programme", he said, adding that the people from across the globe who believe in science and the future are filled with enthusiasm over India's achievements. 

He further said, "This is India, which thinks innovatively and uniquely. This is the India which goes to dark zones and illuminates the world by spreading light. There was a time when we were counted in the third row. Today, from trade to technology, India is being counted among the countries standing in the first row. In this journey from third row to first row, institutions like ISRO have played a huge role."