India Becomes Fourth Nation to Put a Lander on Moon Following Russian Crash

The successful Chandrayaan-3 mission also marked the world’s first landing in the moon’s south polar region.

Jack Daleo

Wednesday, August 23, 2023 at 04:52 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

The Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 mission to the lunar south pole took flight in July. [Courtesy: ISRO]

Key Takeaways:

India's Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully soft-landed its *Vikram* lunar lander on the moon, making it the fourth nation to achieve this feat.
The mission holds particular significance as India is the first country to successfully land a spacecraft in the challenging lunar south polar region.
The *Vikram* lander and its *Pragyan* rover will conduct scientific experiments for two weeks, primarily searching for water ice, which is vital for future lunar settlements and deep-space exploration.
This achievement marks a significant moment in the renewed global "race to the Moon," following recent lunar landing failures by other nations like Russia and Japan, and amidst plans for crewed missions to the same region by the U.S. and China.

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Space exploration is no longer the two-horse race it once was. While the U.S. and the former Soviet Union dominated the early decades of lunar missions, countries around the world are now racing to the moon’s surface—including the most populous nation on Earth.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, India’s Vikram lunar lander, part of the country’s Chandrayaan-3 (literal translation: “moon vehicle”) mission, successfully touched down on the moon’s surface.