India lands near the Moon's south pole in historic mission
Chandrayaan-3 made India the fourth country to achieve a soft lunar landing and the first to reach the Moon's little-explored southern region.
India made history on Wednesday when its Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft touched down softly near the Moon's south pole, making the country the fourth ever to achieve a controlled lunar landing and the first to reach that scientifically prized and challenging region.
Scientists and officials at the control centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation erupted in celebration as confirmation of the landing arrived, and the achievement was watched by tens of millions across India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, following the event remotely, called it a moment of pride for the nation and for the world.
The success came just days after a Russian probe aiming for the same region crashed, underscoring the difficulty of landing in the rugged terrain near the south pole. The area is of particular interest because it is thought to hold deposits of water ice in permanently shadowed craters, a potential resource for future exploration.
Chandrayaan-3 carried a small rover, Pragyan, which rolled onto the surface to study the composition of the lunar soil and the environment near the pole over the following lunar day. The mission had been designed and executed on a famously modest budget, a point of national pride.
The landing cemented India's standing as a major space power and reflected a broader surge of activity on and around the Moon by national agencies and private companies alike, as nations once again set their sights on the lunar surface decades after the Apollo era.