India Becomes First Country to Reach Lunar South Pole, Celebrates Historic Achievement with Hindu Fire Rituals

India has become the fourth nation to successfully land an operational spacecraft on the moon, and the first to reach the south polar region. On Wednesday, the Chandrayaan-3 robotic lander, operated by India’s space agency, dropped out of orbit for a rocket-powered descent to the lunar surface, successfully touching down near the moon’s south pole.

The successful touchdown comes just four days after a Russian spacecraft that was en route to the same area failed during an orbital maneuver and crashed into the lunar surface. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was able to make history by becoming the first country to reach the lunar south pole.

The Chandrayaan-3 lander had been circling the moon in an elliptical orbit with a high point of 83 miles and a low point of just 15.5 miles. The lander was heavily instrumented and carried a small rover, which will be deployed on the lunar surface.

The successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 has been celebrated in India, with people performing Hindu fire rituals as part of special prayers for the safe landing of the spacecraft. The successful mission has boosted India’s increasingly sophisticated space program to the level of “space superpower.”