India Lands Chandrayaan-3 At The Moon’s South Pole

India’s Chandrayaan-3 has landed safely at the Moon’s south pole. India is the first nation to visit this part of the Moon and only the fourth nation to land successfully on the Moon.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was at ISRO mission control and made some rousing comments – among which where these words in English: “This mission was not India’s alone … The global south can achieve these things. We can all aspire to the Moon and beyond … the sky is not the limit”.

SpaceRef editor Keith Cowing’s note: I did an interview with Deutsche Welle about Chandrayaan-3. They aired an intro piece before me where they talked with a family in India and their children’s reactions to the landing and I almost had tears in my eyes since, as I said in my interview that was me as a little boy. [DW Audio]. I also did an interview with CGTN talking about how the Moon is a place that everyone can and should visit. [CGTN Audio]

More information can be found here: Chandrayaan-3 Is Just the First of Four Upcoming Lunar Landing Missions “The world is a disappointing zero for two in Moon landings this year, following the crash of Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft on August 19. In April, ispace’s Hakuto-R lander crashed onto the surface while descending into a crater. However, four other lunar missions are planned for the rest of 2023, beginning this week with Chandrayaan-3 (India’s second attempt to land on the Moon) and Japan’s upcoming launch of a small lander.”