As the country rejoiced the successful placement of the ISRO lander -- Vikram -- on the moon's uncharted South Pole, the agency's chairman S Somanath on Thursday confirmed that its maiden solar mission 'Aditya' is in the works and will be ready for launch in September.
In a brief address to the nation after the lander touched down on the moon's dark side on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi alluded to future missions to the Sun and Venus.
Speaking to ANI a day after the ISRO put India in an elite club of nations with the successful conduct of its maiden lunar landing mission, the ISRO chief said, "Mission 'Aditya' is in the works and will be ready for launch in the first week of September. We are also planning a mission by the end of September or October to demonstrate our crew module and crew escape capability, which will be followed by many test missions until we launch our first manned mission to space (Gaganyaan), possibly by 2025."
On the flawless touchdown of the 'Vikram' lander on the moon's south face, Somanath said the gamut of emotions he ran as the lander closed in on the lunar surface was hard to put in words.
"It was a mix of joy, a feeling of accomplishment and gratefulness for all fellow scientists, who contributed to the success of this mission," Somanath told ANI.
He added that the moon's South Pole has the potential for human settlement, which is why the agency made it the preferred landing site for the lander.