India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission team was honoured with the 2024 John L. ‘Jack’ Swigert Jr. Award for Space Exploration, recognising their groundbreaking efforts. India became the first country to accomplish this remarkable feat in lunar exploration when the mission touched down on the moon’s south pole in August of last year. This achievement, which was created by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), was praised for deepening human knowledge of space.
At the Space Symposium in Colorado, DC Manjunath, the consul general of India in Houston, accepted the prize on behalf of ISRO. On August 23, the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover, together known as Chandrayaan-3, achieved a historic soft landing on the moon, becoming the first nation to achieve this feat.
NASA presents the John L. ‘Jack’ Swigert Jr. Award for Space Exploration to recognise people or groups who have made outstanding achievements in space exploration. It bears the name Jack Swigert in honour of the Apollo 13 astronaut, and it acknowledges accomplishments like leadership in furthering space missions, scientific discoveries, technological advancements, and operational excellence.
Established to acknowledge dedication and contributions to NASA’s mission, recipients epitomize excellence in exploring and understanding space.
