BENGALURU, India ¨C Two visitors from India ¡ª a lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan ¡ª landed in the southern polar region of the moon on Wednesday. The two robots, from a mission named Chandrayaan-3, make India the first country to ever reach this part of the lunar surface in one piece ¡ª and only the fourth country ever to land on the moon.
¡°We have achieved soft landing on the moon,¡± S. Somanath, the chair of the Indian Space Research Organization, said after a roar ripped through the ISRO compound just past 6 p.m. local time. ¡°India is on the moon.¡±
The Indian public already takes great pride in the accomplishments of the nation¡¯s space program, which has orbited the moon and Mars and routinely launches satellites above the Earth with far fewer financial resources than other space-faring nations.
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