National Space Day being celebrated across the country today

The second National Space Day is being celebrated across the country today. The day commemorates the successful soft landing of the Chandrayaan-3 Mission’s Vikram Lander and the deployment of the Pragyan Rover on the Moon on 23rd of August 2023.
On this day in 2023, the Chandrayaan-3 mission accomplished the safe and soft landing of the Vikram Lander on the lunar surface. With this, India became the fourth country to land on the moon and the first to land near the southern polar region of the moon. The soft landing was followed by a successful deployment of the Pragyaan Rover. The landing site was named Shiv Shakti Point. To honour this achievement, the Government of India officially declared August 23rd as “National Space Day.”
The theme for this year’s celebration is Aryabhatta to Gaganyaan: Ancient Wisdom to Infinite Possibilities”. As part of the celebrations, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) hosted the National Space Meet 2.0 in New Delhi yesterday. The meet brought together several Ministries, Private Stakeholders, Academia, Startups, and Experts to shape the next decade of India’s space applications roadmap. It featured 10 breakout sessions that engaged hundreds of experts who, over the past four months, worked closely with Ministries, Departments, State Governments, and ISRO to identify hundreds of use cases for immediate and future implementation.
Speaking at the concluding session of the event, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister P.K. Mishra hailed India’s space journey and emphasized that the meet comprised the whole-of-government approach, from agriculture and health to disaster management and climate resilience. Mr Mishra said that space is not about conquering the stars, it is about improving life on earth. Mr Mishra also noted that reforms and policies have unlocked unprecedented opportunities in India’s space reforms with its startup expanding from two in 2014 to more than 350 startups at present.
Speaking on the occasion, ISRO Chairman,V. Narayanan highlighted India’s remarkable space journey from the rocket launches at Thumba in 1963 to today’s global recognition of India’s leadership in space. He said that capability augmentation and deeper private sector integration in line with space sector reforms will make significant contributions to Viksit Bharat 2047.
To mark the National Space Day, the Department of Space is organizing nationwide celebrations throughout this month to inspire and engage the youth in space science and its applications. The Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) is also celebrating the National Space Day this month, through its campuses in Ahmedabad, Udiapur and Mt. Abu.