The dedicated team behind Bharat’s Chandrayaan 3 mission, led by the Indian Space Research Organisation-ISRO, received the esteemed 2024 John L Jack Swigert Jr Award for Space Exploration. This recognition, conferred by the Space Foundation, celebrates their remarkable contribution in pushing the boundaries of space exploration.
The Space Foundation’s press release acknowledged the team’s role in “raising the bar for space exploration”. Notably, in August last year, the Chandrayaan 3 mission achieved a historic milestone with a successful lunar landing at the Moon’s South Pole, positioning Bharat as the first nation to accomplish this remarkable feat.
During the inaugural ceremony of the annual Space Symposium held in Colorado, Bharat’s Consul General in Houston, DC Manjunath, graciously accepted the award on behalf of ISRO, underscoring the agency’s commitment to advancing space exploration on a global scale.
“Bharat’s leadership in space is an inspiration to the world,” Space Foundation CEO Heather Pringle said in a statement when the award was announced in January.
“The pioneering work of the entire Chandrayaan 3 team has again raised the bar for space exploration, and their remarkable lunar landing is a model to us all. Congratulations and we can’t wait to see what you do next,” he said.
The Space Foundation highlighted that Chandrayaan 3 has expanded humanity’s space exploration horizons by becoming the first to land on the Moon’s South Pole.
The John L Jack Swigert Jr Award for Space Exploration recognises outstanding achievements in space exploration. Named after astronaut Jack Swigert, known for his role in the Apollo 13 mission’s dramatic return to Earth, the award celebrates contributions that advance our understanding of space.
Bharat scripted history with its Chandrayaan 3 mission achieving the “first-ever landing at the unexplored south pole of the Moon, Earth’s natural satellite.” This milestone was accomplished by lander Vikram and rover Pragyan of the Chandrayaan 3, touching down on the lunar surface at 6.04 pm on August 23.
This achievement marks Bharat as the fourth nation to successfully execute a “soft landing” on the Moon, following the US, China, and the former Soviet Union.
