Indian Space Research Organisation chief S Somanath, under whom India scripted history when Chandrayaan-3 made a soft landing on the south pole of the moon on August 23, received a warm welcome by the crew on board an IndiGo flight recently, according to a video which has now gone viral.

In the video shared by airhostess Puja Shah on Instagram with the caption ‘It is always a pleasure to have national heroes on our flight Mr S Somanath, Chairman of ISRO’, the airhostess can be seen welcoming him through the flight’s public address system.

“I am glad to announce the presence of Mr S Somanath, Chairman of ISRO, who boarded our flight today. A huge round of applause for Mr Somanath and his team. We are proud to have you on board, sir. Thank you so much for making India proud,” she announced.

In the video, the passengers can be seen clapping and applauding the man, whose achievement made India the fourth country to accomplish the feat, and the first to reach the uncharted south pole of Earth’s only natural satellite.

However, details about the flight the ISRO chief was travelling on could not be known.

IndiGo also did not share any details.

In a big boost to India’s space prowess, the LM comprising the lander (Vikram) and the 26 kg rover (Pragyan), made the soft landing near the south polar region of the Moon at 6.04 pm on August 23, less than a week after a similar Russian lander crashed.


With this touchdown on the moon in the second attempt in four years, India has become the fourth country to master the technology of soft-landing on the lunar surface after the US, China and the erstwhile Soviet Union.