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India declares August 23 National Space Day

It is the day when Chandrayaan-3 lander touched the moon

NEW DELHI, August 27. /TASS/. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that August 23, the day when the country’s Chandrayaan 3 spacecraft landed on the Moon, will be celebrated as National Space Day.

"In today’s era, the country which paces ahead in the field of science and technology will be charting history <...> To encourage our younger generation to get involved in the field of science and technology and space, we have decided that August 23, the day when our Chandrayaan-3 lander touched the moon, will be celebrated as National Space Day," Modi was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.

The prime minister also said that the point on the Moon where Chandrayaan-3 landed will be called Shivshakti.

"Women scientists played a key role in Chandrayaan 3," Modi said in explaining the choice of the name.

Shivshakti, or Shiva Shakti, is important concept in Hinduism. Shakti embodies feminine energy and is often depicted as the spouse of Shiva, one of the three supreme gods in Hinduism. In the philosophy of Hinduism, Shakti is a symbol of cosmic divine power that permeates the universe, as well as the life-giving feminine source of energy.

The Indian Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully landed near the Moon’s south pole on Wednesday, making India the world’s fourth country to achieve a soft landing of its spacecraft on the Moon, after the USSR, the USA and China. It also made India the first country to have a spacecraft soft landing near the Moon’s south pole. The Russian Luna-25 spacecraft had crashed during an attempt to land in the area shortly before.

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