India landed a spacecraft on the moon on Wednesday, becoming only the fourth country to achieve the feat and the first to successfully touch down in the south pole region.
The mission, named Chandrayaan-3, came four days after a Russian attempt ended in failure and capped a four-year effort by India to recover from a previously failed venture in 2019.
“We have achieved soft landing on the moon,” the director of the Indian Space Research Organization, S. Somanath, said on a live broadcast of the landing to applause among his colleagues. “India is on the moon.”
The Indian spacecraft took a lander, Vikram, and a rover, Pragyan, to the region. it will explore the south pole and test for the presence of icy water deposits under the surface.
India routinely sends satellites above the Earth. The country’s spacecraft have orbited the moon and Mars. Wednesday’s landing was hailed as its biggest scientific achievement.
“This is an unprecedented moment,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a statement from South Africa, where he is attending an economic summit. “This is the moment for new, developing India. This is the moment for 1.4 billion [Indians].”
Only the United States, China, and the former Soviet Union have completed soft landings on the lunar surface.
“This success belongs to all of humanity, and it will help moon missions by other countries in the future,” Modi added.
The Indian mission launched in July and took a slower, fuel-conscious route toward the moon than the Russian attempt. Luna-25 blasted off from Russia 13 days ago and was scheduled to land in the same general vicinity as the Indian craft. It crashed Saturday after an engine malfunction.
NASA’s Artemis program is planning to return astronauts to the moon and has announced plans to land its Artemis III mission in the south polar region in 2025.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson tweeted to India’s scientific team on Wednesday morning.
“Congratulations on your successful Chandrayaan-3 lunar South Pole landing! And congratulations to India on being the 4th country to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on the moon. We’re glad to be your partner on this mission!” the former U.S. senator from Florida wrote.
Dr. Angela Marusiak, an assistant research professor at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, told CNN that she is excited the Indian mission will measure seismic activity on the moon.
“You want to make sure that any potential seismic activity wouldn’t endanger any astronauts,” Marusiak told the network. “Or, if we were to build structures on the moon, that they would be safe from any seismic activity.”
