The successful landing capped a four-year effort to recover from a 2019 crash, demonstrating India's growing space prowess.
Four days after Russia's ill-fated Luna-25 moon probe crash landed, India's heavily instrumented Chandrayaan-3 robotic lander dropped out of orbit for a rocket-powered descent to the lunar surface, successfully touching down near the moon's south pole.
After dropping to an altitude of about 4.5 miles, and slowing from 3,758 mph to about 800 mph, the spacecraft paused the descent for about 10 seconds to precisely align itself with the targeted landing site. "The success belongs to all of humanity," he said."And it will help moon missions by other countries in the future. I'm confident that all countries in the world ... can all aspire for the moon and beyond. ... The sky is not the limit!"
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