India's moon mission begins lunar exploration

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) - The rover of India's Chandrayaan-3 moon mission exited its lander and traveled across the lunar dust for the first time, the country's space agency announced on Thursday.

India on Wednesday made history after its moon mission touched down in a soft landing, becoming the first country to have landed on the lunar south pole

"The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander and India took a walk on the moon," the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), said on X, formerly Twitter.

The agency said it would soon release more updates regarding the mission.

Soon after the successful landing, the agency said a communications link had been established between it and the lander.

It also released images taken by the spacecraft's camera during the descent and after the landing. The agency said Chandrayaan-3 "chose a relatively flat region on the lunar surface."

With the landing, India has joined a list of handful countries — the US, Russia, and China — who have successfully landed spacecraft on the moon.

The country has received wide applause from the world for its successful mission on Wednesday. Modi termed the landing a "historic day for India's space sector" and termed the moment "unprecedented."

Chandrayaan-3 took flight from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in the southern Andhra Pradesh state in July. Its three main objectives were to achieve a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface, deploy its Pragyaan rover, and conduct on-site scientific experiments. Chandrayaan-3 is expected to work for 14 days on the Moon.

The successful landing comes just days after the failure of Luna-25, Russia's first moon mission in 47 years after its engines misfired.

India's Chandrayaan-2 mission in 2019 failed as its Vikram lander crashed into the surface of the moon. The first Chandrayaan mission was launched in 2008.