India’s Chandrayaan-3 makes history by landing on the moon’s South Pole for the first time – beating Russia, China and the USA

India has become the fourth country to land on the moon after its Chandrayaan-3 touched the lunar surface Wednesday.

The craft, which means ‘moon vehicle’ in Hindi and Sanskrit, landed on the south pole – beating the US, China and Russia to the unmapped region.

For India, the successful landing marks its emergence as a space power as the government looks to spur investment in private space launches and related satellite-based businesses. 

Chandrayaan-3 is expected to remain functional for two weeks, running a series of experiments, including a spectrometer analysis of the mineral composition of the lunar surface to determine if there is water ice.

India’s Prime Minister watched the epic mission from South Asia and waved the nation’s flag once the landing was confirmed

This was India’s second attempt to land a spacecraft on the moon and came less than a week after Russia’s Luna-25 mission failed to touch down on the south pole.

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft began decent at 8:30 am ET, slowing down its thrusters for a soft landing.

Carla Filotico, a partner and managing director at consultancy SpaceTec Partners, said: ‘Landing on the south pole (of the moon) would actually allow India to explore if there is water ice on the moon. 

‘And this is very important for cumulative data and science on the geology of the moon.’