Early Wednesday afternoon, the Chandrayaan-3 probe successfully landed on the lunar surface, making India the fourth country after the United States, Russia and China to send a working instrument to the celestial body.
However, they were the first to reach the south pole of the Moon, which deserves special attention because, according to science, the permanently shadowed craters here hide a large amount of water, which may be important for establishing a permanent human base.
After the successful landing, Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander will conduct research on the celestial body independently and with the Pragyan rover on the surface.
Chandrayaan-3 was the country’s second attempt to reach the moon.
Its predecessor, the Chandayaan-2 lander, didn’t succeed in 2019, but it wasn’t a complete failure either: the lunar orbiter has been operational since then and participated in this mission as well. The landing was followed live by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who in his English-language speech emphasized the focus on people and the unity of humanity.
Chandrayaan-3 reached the moon at about the same time as the Russian probe Luna-25. Luna-25 followed the Soviet Luna-24 mission by nearly fifty years and could have landed a few days earlier than Chandrayaan-3. As it is known, the Russian device was unable to perform the maneuver required for landing due to technical problems and collided with the surface of the moon. been vandalized .
Japan will be the next country in line to reach the moon, and its mission will leave the United States on Friday, but it is expected to reach the moon after only half a year.
