In a rare gesture Pakistan’s former Information and Broadcasting Minister has lauded India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission
Fawad Chaudhry, the ex-Minister of I&B has suggested that Pakistan's media should broadcast the Chandrayaan-3 landing program.
He also congratulated the Indian scientists and space community, calling the mission a "historic moment for humankind".
In his social media post, Fawad Chaudhry wrote on Tuesday: "Pak media should show the #Chandrayan moon landing live tomorrow at 6:15 PM...historic moment for Human kind specially for the people, scientists and Space community of India.... Many Congratulations."
Meanwhile, India is keeping its fingers crossed as moon mission Chandrayaan-3 is set to land on the lunar surface this evening.
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The prayers are being held with equal fervour, with scientists predicting "20 minutes of terror" before the touchdown.
The landing is due at 6.04 pm - will be telecast live across the country. Schools will be open for the event, and space enthusiasts are organizing parties in anticipation of the historic moment.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is attending the BRICS summit in South Africa, will join in online.
The suspense has been ratcheted up by the failure of the Russian moon mission Luna-25, which crashed on the moon's surface on Sunday during landing.
In 2019, the Chandrayaan-2 mission failed to land safely in the same area, which is full of craters and deep trenches.
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ISRO has expressed confidence that the landing will take place without a hitch, as the scientists have incorporated all the valuable lessons they learned from Chandrayaan-2.
If the Chandrayaan-3 mission succeeds in making a touchdown on the moon and in landing a robotic lunar rover in ISRO's second attempt in four years, India will become the fourth country to master the technology of soft-landing on the lunar surface after the US, China, and Russia.
