Wishes pour in as India preps for Chandrayaan-3 moon landing: Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Sunita Williams cheer for launch

New Delhi: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Wednesday sent his wishes for India’s Chandrayaan-3 moon landing mission, saying he is rooting for India.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also reacted positively to the much-anticipated launch.

“Root for India! Good luck, Chandrayaan-3,” Bezos, who owns Blue Origin, posted on Instagram’s Threads platform, commenting on Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s post on the mission. Musk also praised India’s moon mission.

“Kinda crazy when you realize India's budget for Chandrayaan-3 ($75 million) is less than the film Interstellar ($165 million),” Newsthink posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Musk responded: “Good for India", with an emoji of the Indian tricolour.

Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams has also wished 'good luck', saying that she will cheer for India as Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander module attempts a touchdown on the moon's surface on Wednesday.

"I am super excited for Chandrayaan-3 on the 23rd of August. Good luck, we are cheering for you," the veteran NASA astronaut said in a video message shared by National Geographic India.

Williams, who has spent about 322 days in space in her two shuttle missions, said that landing on the moon will provide valuable insights on lunar composition and history.

Also Read: International space agencies to help track Vikram lander at the difficult hours

National Geographic India will telecast live coverage of the event, which will also feature inputs from space industry experts as well as astronauts like Williams and Rakesh Sharma on space exploration.

"We salute the brave dreamers of the Indian Space Research Organisation. Watch India's historic touchdown, Chandrayaan 3 Live #countdowntohistory on 23 August at 4 pm on National Geographic," the channel wrote on platform X.

WWE star and actor John Cena on Wednesday took to Instagram, where he shared a picture of the Indian national flag but without any caption.

Several Indian personalities too are supercharged up to witness the latest lunar mission making history.

Bollywood actors like Abhishek Bachchan, R. Madhavan, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur and actor-director Rishabh Shetty lauded the space mission as they took to their respective social media accounts to send their best wishes to the scientists and the brains behind the mission as they hoped for a successful landing.

The Indian space agency is focused on landing its moon lander on Wednesday evening. The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft comprises a propulsion module (weighing 2,148 kg), a lander named Vikram (1,723.89 kg) and a rover named Pragyan (26 kg), similar to those of the Chandrayaan-2.

Also Read: 17 minutes of landing terror today as Chandrayaan-3 gears for landing

Its propulsion module acts like an orbiter. The propulsion module carried the lander and rover configuration until the spacecraft attained a 153×163 km lunar orbit.

A couple of days back, the lander got detached from the propulsion module and both are now circling the moon. The rover is inside the lander.

According to ISRO, the lander will begin its moon landing descent at 5.45 pm today, and the touch down to happen at about 6.05 p.m.

The soft landing is a tricky issue as it involves a series of complex manoeuvres consisting of rough and fine braking. ISRO said the powered descent of the lander will happen from an altitude of 25 km.

The Chandrayaan-3 was put into orbit on July 14 in a copybook style by India's heavy lift rocket LVM3. The spacecraft completed orbiting around the earth and headed towards the moon on August 1.

The success of the mission is of prime importance to India, which will become the fourth country to master the soft-landing technology on moon's surface after the US, China and the erstwhile Soviet Union.

In addition, it will also become the first country to reach the unexplored larger south pole of the Moon.

Also Read: India will land on moon this evening: ISRO Chairman Somanath