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'They made it': UAE astronaut thrilled about Chandrayaan-3 landing on Moon

'I believe this is only the beginning for India and I hope many nations will follow their footstep,' he says

Published: Wed 23 Aug 2023, 11:33 PM

Updated: Wed 23 Aug 2023, 11:43 PM

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UAE astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi said he was thrilled monitoring the historic accomplishment of India landing a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon on Wednesday.

While addressing international media during a news conference from the International Space Station (ISS), AlNeyadi said he was having lunch when Chandrayaan-3 (which means "Mooncraft" in Sanskrit) made a soft landing on the Moon's south pole at 4.34pm (UAE time).

The first Arab astronaut on a long-duration space mission informed his Crew-6 colleagues and proudly said: “They (India) made it.”

“It was really surreal having a man-made object landing on the Moon,” noted AlNeyadi, adding: “It was really amazing for a space-faring nation like India to accomplish a first-of-its-kind mission.

India has joined the United States, former Soviet Union and China, among the space-faring countries that landed a spacecraft on the Moon. India also became the first state that reached the unexplored lunar south pole.

AlNeyadi said: “I believe this is only the beginning for India and I hope many nations will follow their footstep.”

AlNeyadi, who has been living and doing scientific experiments aboard the ISS for almost six months, also mentioned the UAE’s efforts to reach the surface of the Moon.

Citing the achievement of India as a collective effort, AlNeyadi said: “It’s really important to put emphasis on the global effort. We can’t go alone. We always put emphasis on the shared efforts towards achieving one goal.

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