Approximately nine million people at once were watching the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) YouTube live video as the Chandrayaan-3 Lander Module touched down on the lunar surface. India became the fourth nation to land on the moon on Wednesday, August 23, at 6:03 pm, and the first to soft-land near the south pole of the moon. After 40 days and 3.84 lakh kilometers of journey, Chandrayaan-3 finally touched the moon’s surface.
The mission was shown live on a variety of news stations, with alternating shots of ISRO scientists viewing on a large screen. In the final moments before Chandrayaan-3 touched the surface, Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined in live from South Africa. When the Lander successfully touched the moon, scientists erupted in celebration, and the Prime Minister was spotted proudly waving the country’s flag.
According to Firstpost, the ISRO live stream has become the most viewed live stream in recent history, surpassing the previous record holder, the Spanish online sensation and streamer Ibai.
Chandrayaan-3 was launched on July 14 by India’s largest rocket, the Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM3), from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. Since then, anticipation for the mission has been growing. On August 1, the Lander completed its orbit of the Earth and began its journey to the moon. Chandrayaan-3 was about to take the first historic step onto the dusty-gray ‘Earth’ of the moon on August 23, and people couldn’t contain their enthusiasm. At 5:45 p.m., as had been intended, the countdown began, and at 6:03 p.m.; the Lander made contact with the surface of the moon.
