Just days after a Russian spacecraft crashed into the moon in an attempt to become the first country to reach the moon’s south pole, India made history by successfully landing a spacecraft near the uncharted territory.
At 6:33 a.m. MDT Wednesday, the unmanned Chandrayaan-3 made a soft landing in the southern polar region of the moon, making India the first country to reach that part of the moon’s surface, The New York Times reported.
The successful mission makes India the fourth country to reach the moon, joining the United States, the Soviet Union and China.
“India is on the moon,” S. Somanath, head of the India Space Research Organization, stated while watching the landing at the organization’s Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network facility in Bengaluru, India, according to The Washington Post.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the India Space Research Organization, saying it was a “historic day for India’s space sector.”
“We have reached where no other country could,” Modi stated, per BBC News.
India previously attempted to land a spacecraft near the lunar south pole in 2019, but the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft crashed into moon due to a software glitch, The Associated Press reported.
The Chandrayaan-3, comprised of a lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan, will begin its exploration of the moon’s south pole, where scientists believe the area may have frozen water that would be invaluable to future missions.
How to watch the Chandrayaan-3 moon landing
The Chandrayaan-3 moon landing was livestreamed on the India Space Research Organization’s official YouTube channel on the morning of Aug. 23.
Watch the recording of the livestream below: