India Prints History, Becomes The First Country To Land At The Moon's South Pole

India was the first country to successfully land at the south pole of the moon on the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft. (photo: dock. isro)

JAKARTA - India became the first country to successfully land at the south pole of the moon on the Chandrayan-3 spacecraft.

"We have reached a soft moon landing! India is on the Moon!," said Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Sreedhara Somanath announcing after the landing.

Chandrayaan-3 landed well on August 23, 18:03 Indian Standard Time. Indeed, India became the first country to land at the Moon's south pole, but on the Moon itself, he was in fourth position after the United States (US), the former Soviet Union, and China.

India's successful mission to the moon is not just India's success. This is the year the world has witnessed India's presidency at the G20," said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Therefore, this success belongs to all mankind, and this will help the mission of the moon by other countries in the future," he added.

Shortly after landing, ISRO then posted a picture taken by Chandrayaan-3 to his X account, which shows the lunar surface.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:Updates:The communication link is established between the Ch-3 Lander and MOX-ISTRAC, Bengaluru.Here are the images from the Lander Horizontal Velocity Camera taken during the descent. #Chandrayaan_3#Ch3 pic.twitter.com/ctjpxZmbom

— ISRO (@isro) August 23, 2023

Chandrayaan-3 Mission: Updates:The communication link is established between the Ch-3 Lander and MOX-ISTRAC, Bengaluru.Here are the images from the Lander Horizontal Velocity Camera taking the descent. #Chandrayaan_3#Ch3 pic.twitter.com/ctjpxZmbom

The agency has also succeeded in establishing communication relations between spacecraft and mission control on Earth.

In the near future, a solar-powered rover named Pragyan will launch from Chandrayan-3'sUSH lander.

These two robots will spend one day on the Moon (about 14 Earth days) exploring areas that are claimed to be rich in ice, collecting scientific data about the lunar arrangement before the battery runs out after sunset.

The location is close to where the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) hopes to land its first lunar mission in 47 years, Luna-25, on Monday, August 21.

However, the attempt failed when Luna-25 fell to the Moon last weekend after its final orbital maneuver deviated, as quoted by Space, Thursday, August 24.

For information, this Chandrayaan-3 Mission is ISRO's second attempt to land at the lunar regolit. In 2019, Chandrayaan-2 managed to make its orbiter around the Moon, but failed to send its lander and rover to the expected territory.