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India Makes History With Chandrayaan-3's South Pole Moon Landing

With Chandrayaan-3 soft landing on the moon, India has become the first country to land at the South Pole of the moon, and just the fourth to soft land on the moon after America, China and the former Soviet Union.

With Chandrayaan-3 soft landing on the moon, India has become the first country to land at the South Pole of the moon, and just the fourth to soft land on the moon after America, China and the former Soviet Union. This achievement, displaying a continuation of the country's impressive strides in space exploration, comes just shortly after a Russian attempt crashed into Earth’s satellite.

Meaning "moon vehicle" in Hindi and Sanskrit, Chandrayaan took off from Sriharikota in southern India on July 14. In safely landing, India has now solidified itself as a key player in lunar exploration. The lunar lander, Vikram also deployed a lunar rover, Pragyaan to explore this little known area of the moon, which is believed to hold frozen water.

Making this even more impressive, this expedition comes with the relatively low cost of $114 million AUD, further showcasing South Asian ingenuity. It's the country's second attempt to touch down on the moon, after a 2019 mission involved Chandrayaan-2 successfully deploying an orbiter, before the lander crashed.

Hailed as India's biggest scientific feat, the landing has been acknowledged and celebrated by the space and science industry, world leaders and beyond.

"The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander and India took a walk on the moon!" the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) shared in a post on X, previously known as Twitter. Scroll down for more reactions to this historic moment.