The theme of this year's National Space Day is "Touching Lives while Touching the Moon: India's Space Saga."

• August 23 was chosen as on this day in 2023, India became the fourth country to land on the moon and the first to reach its southern polar region.
  • ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 mission achieved a safe and soft landing of Vikram Lander and successful deployment of Pragyan Rover on lunar surface.
  • Landing site was named ‘Shiv Shakti’ point (Statio Shiv Shakti).

Significance of Moon Exploration

• The Moon's surface and its internal structure offers insights into how solar system formed and evolved and the role of asteroid impacts in influencing Earth’s history and possible future.
• It is an excellent place to test space technologies, flight capabilities, life support systems for future deep-space explorations in temperature and radiation extremes of space. 
  • Lunar water can be utilized for supply of rocket fuel components for further space exploration. 
• It fuels commercial aspirations to develop space tourism and extraction of rare earth elements. 
• It creates opportunities for new medical advancements, technological innovations, and application and utilization of vast resources of space.