India Makes History With Flawless Moon Landing, Brightens Path For US Artemis Lunar Mission

India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft landed on the moon on Wednesday, carving a niche for the country in the field of space exploration.

What Happened: The spacecraft landed on the lunar south pole at about 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday to much cheer back home. The mission comes days after Russia’s Luna-25 attempted a similar feat with a disappointing outcome.

Chandrayaan-3 was India’s second attempt at landing on the Moon. Its previous mission, Chandrayaan-2, failed to land in 2019.

With the successful launch, India joined the big three players to have managed a lunar landing — the United States, Soviet Union, and China.

Why It Matters: All eyes are now turned toward the United States as it moves forth with its Artemis mission. Artemis III is scheduled for 2025 and aims at landing the first woman and person of color on the Moon. 

The last time humans set foot on the Moon was in 1972 with Apollo 17. Since then, no crew has traveled beyond low-Earth orbit.

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Read Next: Elon Musk Has Praise For Chandrayaan 3 Moon Lander: ‘Good For India’

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