ISRO awarded with the 2023 Leif Erikson Lunar Prize for its successful Chandrayaan-3 mission

The Exploration Museum in Husavik, Iceland, has awarded ISRO the 2023 Leif Erikson Lunar Prize in recognition of the organization's successful Chandrayaan-3 mission. The Indian Embassy in Reykjavik wrote in a post on X that the award honours "ISRO's indomitable spirit in advancing lunar exploration and contributing to understanding celestial mysteries" as well as the first soft-landing of a spacecraft close to the lunar south pole.

On this momentous occasion, Ambassador B Shyam accepted the prize on behalf of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which was represented by Chairman S Somanath in a video message of gratitude.

Since 2015, the Exploration Museum has awarded the Leif Erikson Award every year. It bears the name of Leif Erikson, a Norse explorer who is credited with being the first European to set foot on mainland America over four centuries before Christopher Columbus's journey.

India's third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, also marked the country's second attempt at a gentle landing. With success, ISRO was able to deploy the robotic rover Pragyaan and set down the Vikram lander on the moon.