India is shooting for the Moon with new lunar mission 

India is hoping the second time’s the charm as it launches a new mission to the moon on Friday. If successful, the country would become the fourth in history to touch down on the lunar surface. 

The mission, dubbed Chandrayaan-3, blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota in southern Andhra Pradesh state at 2:30 p.m. local time. 

Developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the Chandrayaan-3 mission will consist of a lander and a rover, each of which carries a suite of scientific instruments. If all goes as planned, the duo will touchdown near the lunar south pole in late August.

The IRSO announced the successful launch in a tweet, saying the spacecraft is in a “precise orbit” and its status is “normal.” It also posted pictures showing the rocket launching.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said after the launch that the mission marks a “new chapter” for India’s space exploration.

“It soars high, elevating the dreams and ambitions of every Indian. This momentous achievement is a testament to our scientists’ relentless dedication. I salute their spirit and ingenuity!” he said.

Following a successful soft landing on the moon’s surface, the spacecraft will conduct a series of scientific experiments and collect data on the moon’s composition.

To date, only the United States, the Soviet Union, and China have successfully landed spacecraft on the moon. Other countries have tried and failed, including Israel with its Beresheet moon lander, and more recently with Japanese aerospace firm iSpace.

Indian engineers have been preparing for years for the mission, which marks the country’s third lunar mission. The first, which occurred in 2008, saw a spacecraft called Chandrayaan-1 orbit the moon before it deliberately crashed into the moon’s surface. 

In 2019, the country attempted its first soft landing on the moon, but that ended in a crash landing, like most attempts do. At the time, Modi praised the mission’s engineering team despite the failure.

Overall, India has enjoyed several successes with its space program, including the distinction of being the first Asian nation to reach Mars. In 2014, the country’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) entered into orbit around the red planet. It would continue until 2022, when the mission officially ended.  

India also set a record for most satellites launched on a single mission in 2017 as it launched 104 small satellites as part of a rideshare mission. SpaceX has since beat that number as it launched 143 satellites on a similar mission. 

India has dabbled in the space industry for more than six decades, having launched its first rockets in 1963. That rocket paled in comparison to what was launching out of the U.S. and Russia. Now that India is the world’s most populous nation and the fifth largest economy, India dreams for a bigger piece of the space pie. 

The country has spent about $75 million on its Chandrayaan-3 mission, which is roughly one million more that what it spent on the MOM mission nearly 10 years ago.

On a recent visit to the U.S., Modi talked to President Biden about possible collaborations with NASA. The duo discussed India’s plans to eventually launch crewed missions, with NASA potentially helping out in training new astronauts that could one day fly to the International Space Station (ISS) or further out into space.

Jared Gans contributed reporting