Indian spacecraft successfully lands on moon's south pole, making history

The Hindustan Times newspaper reported that the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft had a "soft landing" at the south pole of the moon at 6:04 p.m. on August 23 (New Delhi time).

The event comes just days after Russia failed to land its Luna-25 probe safely in the same area on a similar mission.

"This is the victory cry of a new India," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who watched the event from South Africa, said in a live broadcast. On social network X (formerly Twitter), he said today was a "historic day" for India's space sector.

Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft prepares to land on the moon's south pole

"India is on the moon," said ISRO chief S. Somanath, shortly after the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully landed.

To date, only the United States, the former Soviet Union, and China have landed spacecraft on the moon, but none have ever landed on its south pole. The region is of particular interest to government space agencies and private space companies because of the presence of water ice that could support a future space station.

This is the second attempt by ISRO to land its probe on the moon's south pole. In 2019, the space agency's Chandrayaan-2 mission managed to put the spacecraft into orbit but ultimately failed to achieve a "soft landing".

Chandrayaan-3 carries the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover. They are scheduled to remain at the lunar south pole for two weeks, conducting a series of experiments including spectroscopic analysis of the mineral composition of the surface.

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