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“Momentous achievement”

New Delhi: Political leaders on Friday hailed Chandrayaan-1’s landing of probe —with tricolour painted on its sides — on the Moon as an “inspirational and momentous” achievement for Indian space scientists to take the country to a leadership position in space exploration.

Applauding the milestone, the country’s first spaceman Rakesh Sharma said that compared to India, the feat was not achieved with a very high degree of success by other countries.

The former president, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, said the landing of the Moon Impact Probe on the lunar surface showed the Indian Space Research Organisation’s technological excellence and creative leadership.

Extending her congratulations to the entire team associated with Chandrayaan-1, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said: “This momentous achievement shall be etched in the history of India as a grateful tribute to our scientific community for its resolute efforts to take India to a global leadership position.”

“Today is a historic day for India,” Ms. Gandhi said.

The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, L.K. Advani, said: “Today is a truly historic day for India, a day to be recorded in golden letters.” — PTI