And then there was one. Since earlier this month, there had been something of a footrace in space, with India and Russia vying to be the first country to land a spacecraft in the moon’s south polar region. On July 14, the Indian spacecraft, Chandrayaan-3, blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in southeastern India, carrying a 1,726 kg (3,805 lb) lander, which itself contains a little 26 kg (57 lb) rover. Then on Aug. 9, Russia followed in hot pursuit, launching its 1,750 kg (3,858 lb) Luna 25 lander from the newly built Vostochny Cosmodrome in the country’s far eastern Amur Oblast region. On Aug. 23, India won the cosmic competition, setting Chandrayaan-3 down gently in the polar dust at 8:34 AM ET. “We have achieved a soft landing on the moon,” announced S. Somanath, the chairman of ISRO—the Indian Space Research Organization, to a packed mission control. “India is on the moon!” “India’s successful moon mission is not just India’s alone,” added Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a live address to the control center and the nation. “This success belongs to all of humanity. And it will help moon missions by other countries in the future.” Moments later he expanded the celebration to X, (formerly Twitter), writing, “Historic day for India’s space sector. Congratulations to @isro for the remarkable success of Chandrayaan-3 mission.”
Full commentary : How India Became the First Country to Reach the Moon’s South Pole.
