Photo: PUNIT PARANJPE / AFP / Getty Images
India became the fourth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon on Wednesday (August 23), joining the United States, China, and the former Soviet Union.
India's uncrewed robotic moon lander Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the moon's surface shortly after 8:30 a.m. ET. The craft landed in the moon's southern polar region, making India the first nation in history to reach that area of the moon.
The craft includes a lander named Vikram and a six-wheeled rover named Pragyan. Sreedhara Somanath, the director of the Indian Space Research Organization, told reporters that Pragyan is expected to deploy from the lander within the next 24 hours and should start sending data back soon thereafter.
India's historic lunar landing comes just a few days after a Russian spacecraft crashed in the same area while performing an orbital maneuver.
On Friday, Japan plans to launch a spacecraft of its own to the moon. Japan's space agency, JAXA, hasn't provided a date for when it expects the craft to attempt a lunar landing.
The United States plans to send astronauts to the lunar south pole in 2025 as part of the Artemis III mission.