India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft becomes the first ever to land on the moon’s south pole, just days after a Russian attempt ended in a crash.
The region’s shadowed craters are believed to contain water ice that could help make a permanent lunar base for humans a reality.
India’s Chandrayaan-3 has made history by becoming the first spacecraft to successfully land on the moon’s south pole.
Six weeks after it launched, and three days after a similar Russian attempt crashed into the lunar surface, it’s touched down in an area thought to be rich with water ice.
The craft’s lander will now deploy a rover that will spend two weeks gathering rock samples, images, and data.
“We have a soft landing on the moon,” the prime minister Modi is told by engineers from India’s Space Research Organisation.