International media displays great enthusiasm as ISRO successfully launches Chandrayaan-2

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scripted history yesterday by successfully launching Chandrayaan-2, India’s second moon mission with a plan to land the rover on September 7 on the moon’s unexplored South Pole. It is being seen as a giant leap in India’s ambitious, low-cost space programme. As per a News18 report, this is the most complex and prestigious mission ever undertaken by the ISRO.

Once India successfully completes the mission, India will become only the fourth country after the USA, Russia and China to make a soft landing on the moon. NASA congratulated ISRO on this launch and tweeted, “Congrats to @ISRO on the launch of Chandrayaan 2, a mission to study the Moon. We’re proud to support your mission comms using our Deep Space Network and look forward to what you learn about the lunar South pole where we will send astronauts on our #Artemis mission in a few years.”

India’s successful launch was reported with great fanfare by the international media. BBC News tweeted about the launch from its official handle along with a short clip of the launch. The New York Times also carried a major story about the successful launch of Chandrayaan-2 and described the launch as “a huge leap forward for India’s ambitious space program.” It also stated, “Scientists and defense experts everywhere are watching to see whether the country can pull it off.” It added, “So are countless Indians. There are few things as unifying for a nation as a successful space program, and, over the past few weeks, Chandrayaan-2 posters have popped up everywhere and schoolchildren have been hunched over mini-Chandrayaans made from empty plastic bottles, learning the physics of rocketry.” The Washington Post also published a story about the launch.

As per a Times Now report, the Russian media has also hailed the successful launch of India’s second moon mission. It was described as one of the most difficult missions till date and the media praised ISRO for its extensive efforts.

When it comes to the British media, it has already been mentioned that the BBC reported extensively about the moon mission. It stated, “For the first time in India’s space history, an interplanetary expedition is being led by two women – Muthaya Vanitha, the project director, and Ritu Karidhal, the mission director.”  

Pakistani media outlets like Dawn did report about the launch of Chandrayaan-2, however, it did not come as much of a surprise that the launch was not reported with much fanfare by the Pakistani media. The Chinese media too simply reported about the launch and its broad details but none of the outlets made any comments about the historic launch.