India has become the first country in the world to successfully land on the lunar south pole region – next to where its previous attempt failed and the fourth country in the world to land a spacecraft on the moon.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the mission, known as Chandrayaan-3, in mid-July, with the spacecraft traveling a forty-day, fuel-efficient course before touching down at 8:34 a.m. ET.
On July 14th, the Indian spacecraft, Chandrayaan-3, blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in southeastern India, carrying a 1,726 kg (3,805 lb) lander, which itself contains a little 26 kg (57 lb) rover. Then on Aug. 9, Russia followed in hot pursuit, launching its 1,750 kg (3,858 lb) Luna 25 lander from the newly built Vostochny Cosmodrome in the country’s far eastern Amur Oblast region.
On Aug. 23, India won the cosmic competition, setting Chandrayaan-3 down gently in the polar dust at 8:34 AM ET.
Chandrayaan-3 had aimed to become the first spacecraft to touch down in a region of the lunar surface thought to contain deep craters with water ice.
It touched down six weeks after launching on board a rocket from a spaceport in Andhra Pradesh.
The successful landing was met with cheers and applause from mission control at Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, joined a conference call at the space centre to watch the landing, waving a small Indian flag as the spacecraft landed.
Making a triumphant speech to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), said “This is the heartbeat of 1.4 billion people. This is the new India, the new beginning, the new thinking of the new efforts.
India’s landing follows Russia’s failed attempt, after their Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon.
India now joins the U.S., Russia and China as the only countries to successfully land a spacecraft on the lunar surface.
