Chandrayaan 3 team of ISRO receives John L Jack Swigert Jr Award

India’s premier national space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chandrayaan -3 mission team was awarded the  2024 John L “Jack” Swigert, Jr, Award for Space Exploration by the US-based Space Foundation. This award is given by the US-based non-profit organisation Space Foundation to honour a space agency, company, or consortium of organisations in the realm of space exploration and discovery.

The Indian Consul General of India in Houston, D C Manjunath, received the 2024 John L “Jack” Swigert, Jr, Award for Space Exploration Award on behalf of the ISRO’s Chandrayaan -3  team. The award was presented at the opening day of the three-day annual (8-11 April 2024) symposium organised by the Space Foundation in Colorado, United States. 

The Chandrayaan-3 team was honoured for raising the bar for space exploration by their remarkable lunar landing. According to the Space Foundation the technical and engineering achievements showcased by this mission showed the unquestioned leadership and ingenuity of the people of India in the global space ecosystem to the world..

John L “Jack” Swigert, Jr, Award for Space Exploration Award 

The John L “Jack” Swigert, Jr, Award for Space Exploration Award was instituted by the Space Foundation in  2004 in memory of John L “Jack” Swigert, Junior.  John L “Jack” Swigert, Junior, was part of NASA’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Apollo 13 Mission to the moon which had been aborted due to a leakage in its Oxygen tank.

The Jack Swigert Award is presented annually at the Space Symposium organised by the Space Foundation.

In 2023 NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Team was honoured with the Jack Swigert award.

Space Foundation was founded in 1983 as a nonprofit organisation.The Foundation offers the collaboration,sharing of information and education for the global space ecosystem. Since 1984, the Space Foundation has hosted a Space Symposium, which brings the leaders of the global space ecosystem together.

Chandrayaan -3 Mission 

• ISRO launched the Chandrayaan-3 mission from Sriharikota. Andhra Pradesh on July 14, 2023, on a GSLV- Mark III (LVM-3) rocket.
• The spacecraft consisted of a lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan. The lander successfully landed at the unexplored south pole of the moon on 23rd August 2023.
•  India became the first country in the world to land a lunar module at the south pole of the moon. 
• The point where the Chandrayaan -3 lander landed was named Shivshakti point.
• India became the fourth country in the world after the US, Russia, and China to successfully conduct a lunar landing mission.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) 

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was set up by the government of India on 

15 August 1969.

ISRO was earlier known as the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR), which was set up by the Government of India in 1962.

ISRO  is involved in science, engineering and technology to use the benefits of outer space for India and mankind. 

ISRO comes under the Department of Space (DOS), Government of India. 

Vikram Sarabhai the founder of ISRO was its first chairman.

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Chairman: S.Somanath