ISRO, India’s national space agency, has successfully made a historic soft landing near the moon’s water-rich south pole, only days after Russia’s Luna 25 crashed on the lunar surface attempting a similar mission
By Matthew Sparkes
23 August 2023
The Chandrayaan-3 moon landing as seen on screens at ISRO, India’s national space agency
India has become only the fourth country to successfully land an intact craft on the moon as its Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully touched down near the lunar south pole today at 12:32 GMT. It has also become the first nation to explore the potentially water-rich polar region.
The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO’s) Chandrayaan-3, which takes its name from the Sanskrit word for “mooncraft”, took off onboard a Launch Vehicle Mark-III rocket from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh on 14 July and spent six weeks covering about 380,000 kilometres en route to the moon.
ISRO said in a tweet that the landing had taken place 40 days, 3 hours and 29 minutes after launch.
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The mission placed the Vikram lander at a spot with water reserves, which could help make a permanent lunar base possible.
Chandrayaan-3 slowed itself while in orbit before briefly hovering stationary at 150 metres above the surface. It then made a slow vertical descent to a successful landing. The prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, spoke remotely to mission control and said “India is now on the moon”.