India just became only the fourth nation to successfully land a mission on the moon.
India's Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully descended from lunar orbit Wednesday, touching down on the surface.
The mission launched in July. The stakes were high. Just days ago, Russia's Luna-25 mission to the moon ended in failure."Unfortunately, the engines didn't stop normally in accordance with the landing sequence," said Yuri Borisov, head of Roscosmos.And in April, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured the spot where Japan's lander smashed into the surface.
"You can split water into rocket fuel or into chemicals that you need to breathe and grow plants and so forth. And you don't have to bring it from Earth. It's there," said former NASA engineer and editor of SpaceRef.com, Keith Cowing. 2023 is the busiest year for lunar exploration since the Apollo era. Japan plans to launch another mission this weekend, and two private U.S. companies plan launches by the end of the year.
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