BENGALURU – An Indian spacecraft landed on the moon on Wednesday in a mission seen as crucial to lunar exploration and India’s standing as a space power, just days after a similar Russian lander crashed. ADVERTISEMENTScientists and officials clapped, cheered and hugged each other as the spacecraft landed and as the government now looks to spur investment in private space launches and related satellite-based businesses. “India is on the moon,” said S. Somanath, chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft landed on the lunar south pole. This was India’s second attempt to land a spacecraft on the moon and comes less than a week after Russia’s Luna-25 mission failed. “Landing on the south pole (of the moon) would actually allow India to explore if there is water ice on the moon.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer August 24, 2023 01:44 UTC