The National Space Day is celebrated in India annually on August 23. The maiden National Space Day was celebrated on August 23, 2024. Background The Government of India has officially declared August 23rd as "National Space Day" to honour the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, which achieved a safe and soft landing of the Vikram Lander at the 'Shiv Shakti' point and deployed the Pragyaan Rover on the lunar surface on August 23, 2023. Objectives National Space Day recognizes significant achievements in space exploration and highlights advancements in space technology. The day is dedicated to inspiring future generations by generating interest in space science and technology among students and providing them with role models. Furthermore, National Space Day enhances public awareness of the importance and benefits of space exploration, promoting national pride and unity. It serves as a powerful reminder of the impact of space exploration on our lives and the need for continued support and progress in this essential field. Chandrayaan-3 mission Chandrayaan-3 mission accomplished safe and soft-landing of Vikram Lander on the lunar surface on August 23, 2023. With this, India became the fourth country to land on the moon and first to land near the southern polar region of the moon. The soft-landing was followed by successful deployment of Pragyan Rover. The landing site was named as 'Shiv Shakti' point (Statio Shiv Shakti) . Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. It consists of Lander and Rover configuration. It will be launched by LVM3 from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota. The propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration till 100 km lunar orbit. The propulsion module has Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study the spectral and Polari metric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit. To know more visit Chandrayaan 3 details from ISRO website Theme for 2026 The National Space Day [NSpD-2026] is celebrated on August 23, 2026. The theme for 2026 is "Towards Viksit Bharat: Innovating, Collaborating and Aspiring to Global Space Leadership”. the theme reflecting three key pillars of India’s development journey—innovation as the strength of a new India, collaboration as an expression of India’s culture, thought and wisdom, and global leadership as a national aspiration, and stated that the center of these aspirations is India’s youth. ISRO’s humble beginnings started in the 1960s has evolved from launching small sounding rockets to demonstrating the capability to launch international commercial satellites in the 6-ton class. Notable achievement is the successful launch of the first orbital flight ‘Vikram-1’ in the very first attempt by M/s Skyroot Aerospace team with needed support from ISRO. The space sector reforms were rolled out by Govt. of India in 2020, and now it has resulted in growth of more than 440 space start-ups in the country. Source : ISRO