Launched by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) in July, the Chandrayaan-3 uncrewed lunar lander successfully touches down on the surface of the moon near the lunar south pole, the first human-made spacecraft to successfully land in that region. Pictures from the surface are transmitted back to Earth, though the lander’s mission is to look for signs of subsurface water believed to be common in the shaded south pole region, a potentially vital resource for long-term human habitation of the moon. (This was the mission intended for the earlier, unsuccessful Chandrayaan-2 mission in 2018.) In accomplishing this feat, India becomes the fourth country to soft-land a payload on the lunar surface.
