INDIA'S lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 on Wednesday (23) made a successful soft-landing near the moon's South Pole, leaving billions of countrymen, including the prime minister who is currently overseas, filled with unmatched pride.
The south Asian nation, which has become the fourth country in the world to accomplished controlled landing on the moon's surface after the US, erstwhile Soviet Union and China, is the first to land near the unexplored South Pole, which is the hot new destination since traces of water were found on the natural satellite.
The lander's touchdown took place at 6.04 pm Indian Standard Time amid huge cheers in the war room of the country's space agency Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
S Somnath, chief of ISRO, said after the mission succeeded, "India is on the moon."
An unbelievable moment: PM Modi
"It is an unbelievable moment," said prime minister Narendra Modi who virtually witnessed the historic moment from South Africa, where he is currently to take part in BRICS summit.
He also said that India's successful moon mission is not her alone.
"I heartily congratulate ISRO, its scientists for this unprecedented feat. I may be in South Africa but my heart has always been with Chandrayaan mission," he said.
"No other country has been able to land on this side of moon before; this will change all narratives and stories about moon. We are witness to the new flight of new India. New history has been written," Modi added.
The Indian spacecraft's landing comes days after a Russian probe crashed in the same region. India's previous attempt in 2019 had also failed.
Chandrayaan-3 took 41 days to reach its destination, more time that the Apollo missions in the 1960s and 1970s that reached within days. Those from the erstwhile Soviet Union and China also reached moon in a matter of days.
Army personnel stand amid the rubble following an explosion inside the police headquarters at Kohat in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on September 18, 2026. An explosion at a historic police headquarters in northern Pakistan on September 18 killed at least eight people and wounded 35 more, officials said, with the country's president swiftly blaming a militant group. Getty Images
Mourners read the holy Quran while sitting around the grave of a paramilitary personnel of the Frontier Corps (FC) who was killed during the Afghanistan-Pakistan border clashes, in Kohat on October 17, 2025. A ceasefire along the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan was holding on October 16, officials on both sides said, after dozens of troops and civilians were killed in cross-border clashes.Getty Images
