Chandrayaan-3 fruit of decades of scientific community's labour: Rahul

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has hailed the launch of Chandrayaan-3 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and said its success of this mission will make us only the fourth nation to land a spacecraft on the surface of the moon.

He congratulated the entire team at ISRO.

"Today, more than a billion of us look to the sky, beaming with pride. Chandrayaan 3 is the fruit of decades of labour by the scientific community since the launch of India's space programme in 1962, followed by the creation of ISRO in 1969. The success of this mission will make us only the fourth nation to land a spacecraft on the surface of the moon. A truly incredible feat! Congratulations to the entire team at ISRO," he said in a tweet.

Chandrayaan-3 was launched on GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy-lift launch vehicle successfully on Friday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota as per the scheduled launch time.

The journey from Earth to the moon for the spacecraft is estimated to take about a month and the landing is expected on August 23. Upon landing, it will operate for one lunar day, which is approximately 14 Earth days. One day on the Moon is equal to 14 days on Earth. Chandrayaan-3 will demonstrate the country's abilities for safe and soft landing on lunar surface.