PM Modi dials ISRO chief, says 'Will personally visit to congratulate on Chandrayaan-3 successful landing on Moon'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephonic conversation with ISRO Chief S Somanath from South Africa's Johannesburg, where he is attending the BRICS summit, to congratulate him on the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon's surface.During the call, he lauded the ISRO and his entire team for the feat.The Prime Minister also told S Somanath that he would soon be visiting Bengaluru to personally greet the team on the successful Chandrayaan-3 mission."Your name is Somanath which is associated to Moon. Your family members are also very happy today. I want to congratulate you and your entire team. Convey my greetings to everyone and very soon, I will congratulate you all face-to-face," PM Modi told the ISRO during the call.The Vikram lander touched down on the lunar surface at 6:04 pm IST.India, on Wednesday, made history by becoming the first country to touch down near the little-explored south pole region and joins the United States, the Soviet Union and China in achieving a moon landing.The Chandrayaan 3 mission was launched on July 14 on board Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM-3) rocket, for a 41-day voyage to reach near the lunar south pole.The Vikram lander's soft-landing took place days after Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the Moon after spinning out of control.With inputs from agencies