India becomes first nation to land on moon’s south pole

India became the first nation in history to land on the moon’s south pole on Wednesday at 6:00 pm India time (12:30 GMT).

The craft Chandrayaan-3, which means “Mooncraft” in Sanskrit, will be the first spacecraft on the little-explored lunar south pole.

The Times of India front-page headline read “India reaches for the Moon” on Wednesday, with the news of the awaited landing dominating the local news. “It’s D-Day for Moon Mission”, The Hindustan Times said.

There was a previous Indian attempt in 2019 which failed in 2019. There were many attempts in history to reach the south pole of the moon, but most of them failed.

However, Indian space chief K. Sivan said the latest photos of the Chandrayaan-3 shows the final leg of the voyage would succeed.

“It is giving some encouragement that we will be able to achieve the landing mission without any problem,” he told AFP on Monday.

The lunar south pole holds a number of craters hiding in the shadows. They are considered cold traps, due to the fact that they are not touched by sunlight.

The traps contain fossil record of hydrogen and water ice dating back from the early Solar System.

The lunar north pole region, however, holds a lower quantity of similar craters.