India has successfully landed its Chandrayaan 3 spacecraft near the moon's south pole, a region seen as critical for any sustained lunar operations because of possible water ice deposits there.
The spacecraft was able to touch down on the side of the moon at about 8:34 a.m. ET Wednesday morning, and the lander radioed back to earth: India, I reached my destination and you too! The Indian Space Research Organization, ISRO, tvd out that message as the country erupted in celebrations.
Pragyan, a Vikram lander, is expected to roll out once the dust from the landing clears. The rover will be able to receive images and data from the surface of the moon for 14 days, the equivalent of a lunar day.
In a statement, ISRO said images of the moon were captured by the lander as it approaching for a touchdown.
The mission to India was launched last month. The Luna 25, launched after India's mission and taking a faster trajectory to the moon, crashed on the lunar surface on Saturday.
Narendra Modi, India's prime minister, watched the landing online from South Africa, where he is attending a summit of BRICS leaders. The moment is unrelenting and priceless. The strength of 1.4 billion heartbeats is unprecedented, he said.
The United States and China have never landed on the moon since the Soviet Union and China did so a number of years ago.
An earlier Indian moon mission, Chandrayaan II, was only a partial success as its lander suffered a software glitch and crashed into the moon.