(ProsperNews.net) – India’s Chandrayaan-3 robotic lunar lander touched down near the south pole of the Moon last week just days after Russia’s robotic moon probe crashed, CBS News reported.
At around 8:15 a.m. EDT last Wednesday, the braking engines on Chandrayaan-3 fired up at an altitude of around 18 miles to start its powered descent to the surface. When it dropped to about 4.5 miles, the lander slowed to about 800 mph then continued to touchdown.
As it made its approach, the spacecraft beamed back a stream of images to the control room where Prime Minister Narendra Modi looked on via video link.
When the craft touched down at 8:33 a.m. EDT, the ground crew, dignitaries, and guests in the control center at the Indian Space Organization erupted in applause as India became the fourth country ever to land a spacecraft on the moon.
Chandrayaan-3’s landing was carried live on YouTube and the Indian Space Organization’s website.
The dramatic landing capped India’s 4-year effort to recover from the 2019 software glitch that caused Chandrayaan-2 to crash just moments before touchdown.
Russia nearly succeeded in stealing India’s thunder last Monday with its planned moon landing of the Luna-25 probe, its first attempt at a moon landing in nearly 50 years.
However, over the weekend, the Luna-25 robotic probe crashed after a thruster firing went awry, cutting communications and sending the craft into the wrong orbit. The Russian space agency Roscosmos later reported that the craft “ceased to exist” after colliding with the lunar surface.
Where Russia failed, India succeeded as Chandrayaan-3’s orbital adjustments went perfectly, allowing it to touch down just as lunar dawn broke at the landing site.
Chandrayaan-3 consists of a solar-powered Vikram lander and the 83-pound Pragyan rover. The spacecraft is equipped with instruments that can measure thermal and seismic activity, temperature, and the plasma environment.
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