As India becomes the fourth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Wednesday shared new images on X (formerly Twitter) documenting the Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander touching down on the lunar surface.
The first set of four images shared by the ISRO were taken as the lander approached the surface, with the agency later sharing an image from the lander on the surface.
"The communication link is established between the Ch-3 Lander and MOX-ISTRAC, Bengaluru," ISRO said in a post on X. "Chandrayaan-3 chose a relatively flat region on the lunar surface," the agency added in a later post.
Many suspect the rocks at the moon’s poles may hold frozen water that could be used to support a permanent human settlement. The Chandrayaan-3 is also equipped with a small rover that will explore the area until it runs out of batteries; the ISRO does not expect it to last through the lunar’s two-week night.
The space agency on Tuesday released images of the far side of the moon while it searched for a suitable landing spot.
The Chandrayaan-3 was India’s second recent attempt to land on the moon. Its first, the Chandrayaan-2, crashed into the lunar surface in September 2019 due to a software glitch. The Chandrayaan-1 also crashed into the lunar surface but that was intentional.
Russia’s space agency Roscosmos congratulated India on the successful moon landing.
"The Roscosmos State Corporation congratulates Indian colleagues on the successful moon landing of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft. Exploration of the moon is important for all mankind, in the future it may become a platform for deep space exploration," the agency said in a statement.
On Friday, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will attempt to become the fifth nation to land a spacecraft on the moon, though the landing spot for that craft will be in a crater next to the equator on the near side of the moon.