India’s space mission, Chandrayaan-3, recently made history by landing gently on the Moon’s surface. This happened on August 23 at 6:04 pm. It’s a big achievement because no other country has done this before. The Moon’s south pole was the landing spot. Let’s understand what this means and why it’s important.

Chandrayaan-3 took off on 14th July 2023. Now, let’s dive into why the way it landed was special, the challenges of landing on the south pole, and what’s next. The mission had three main goals: safely landing on the Moon, using a rover to move around on the Moon, and doing scientific experiments there.

Soft landing means landing gently so that the spacecraft doesn’t break. Other spacecraft that went to the Moon usually landed near its middle. This was easier and safer because the conditions were better. But Chandrayaan-3 chose a difficult spot, the Moon’s south pole. It’s tricky because it’s very dark there, super cold, and full of craters.

In 2019, another mission called Chandrayaan-2 tried to land near the south pole but couldn’t do a soft landing. It’s like parking your bike smoothly. Chandrayaan-2 had some problems and lost contact. This time, Chandrayaan-3 was prepared better. It had more fuel to adjust its landing spot if needed. Also, it had solar panels on all sides to get energy from the Sun.

On 23rd August 2023, Chandrayaan-3 faced a crucial challenge. It had to shift from moving horizontally to moving down vertically smoothly. This is like turning your car’s steering wheel accurately. There were four steps in this landing:

1. Slow down the spacecraft from super fast speed to almost zero.
2. Tilt it from lying down to standing up.
3. Move down gently while standing up.
4. Finally, land softly on the Moon’s surface.

This landing was a nail-biting 15-minute process. Chandrayaan-2 faced a similar challenge before but couldn’t manage it. Now, Chandrayaan-3 succeeded in this tough task.

After landing, right now the mission’s scientific experiments has been started. The rover is doing things like studying the Moon’s soil, measuring distances, and learning about the Moon’s quakes. All this will help scientists understand the Moon and space better.

In the end, Chandrayaan-3’s soft landing at the lunar south pole is a big achievement for India. It shows our space scientists are smart and brave. This mission teaches us that with hard work and learning from mistakes, we can reach new heights in space exploration.