India has made history by becoming the first country to land a craft near the moon's south pole — a “game-changing” development that highlights the country’s emergence as a space power as it moves forward with more ambitious missions and opens its space programs to private investors.
The landing module of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Chandrayaan-3 mission touched down on the moon’s surface Wednesday evening in a landmark event that was followed live by millions in the world’s most populous nation.
“Generally speaking, people have always considered India's space capabilities as junior to those of Russia, Israel and Japan,” said Peter Garretson, senior fellow in Defense Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council.