Two visitors from India — a lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan — landed in the southern polar region of the moon on Wednesday. The two robots, from a mission named Chandrayaan-3, make India the first country to ever reach this part of the lunar surface in one piece — and only the fourth country ever to land on the moon.
The Indian public already takes great pride in the accomplishments of the nation’s space program, which has orbited the moon and Mars and routinely launches satellites above the Earth with far fewer financial resources than other nations. But the achievement of Chandrayaan-3 may be even sweeter.
“We have achieved soft landing on the moon,” S. Somanath, the director of the Indian Space Research Organization, said after a roar ripped across the ISRO compound just past 6 p.m. local time. “India is on the moon.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose face beamed onto a screen in the control room in the final minutes from South Africa, where he is on an official visit, declared the landing as “the moment for new, developing India.”
Here’s what you need to know:
The Indian mission launched in July, taking a slower, fuel-conscious route toward the moon. Vikram out-endured its Russian counterpart, Luna-25, which launched 13 days ago for the moon. It was scheduled to land on Monday in the same general vicinity as the Indian craft but crashed on Saturday following an engine malfunction.
That India managed to outdo a nation that put the first satellite, man and woman in space is a measure of the country’s long embrace of the science and technology needed to support a space program. But the landing also comes at a particularly important moment in the South Asian giant’s rise.
The Aug. 23 landing was selected because it is the day when the sun will rise at the landing site. The mission is to conclude two weeks later when the sun sets. While on the surface, the solar-powered lander and rover will use a range of instruments to make thermal, seismic and mineralogical measurements.
The landing was seen by around 7 million viewers on the YouTube channel of the Indian Space Research Organization, and many more people on Indian TV broadcasts.
The Deep Space Network, a NASA network of large dish antennas, is assisting ISRO in communicating with the ground. Right now, it shows Chandrayaan-3 sending and receiving signals.
