India’s Lunar Mission Chandrayaan-3: Media and Perception

Abstract

India accomplished a glorious stride by launching the lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 and subsequently landing it on the south pole of Moon on August 23, 2023 for the first time in the history of space exploration garnering immense global appreciation and admiration for India’s incredible scientific vision, ability and progress in space science and technology. While every citizen of our country is a part of this pride and prestige, it is very important to know the perception of young minds on ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 mission. The present article therefore attempted to understand the reach and popularity of Chandrayaan-3 among the school students of class 1317-1322th standard in North East India. While doing so, the role of media in promoting the Chandrayaan-3 mission and space science literacy is also examined. With the help of a semi-structured questionnaire, online survey was conducted among the selected high schools located in the North East region. As part of the study, a content analysis of a popular daily English newspaper of the North East region ‘The Assam Tribune’ published during July-August 2023 was carried out to find out the amount and kind of news coverage on Chandrayaan-3.