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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Holly Patrick

Watch: India’s Chandrayaan-3 attempts historic moon landing

R.SATISH BABU/AFP via Getty Images

Watch again as India's Chandrayaan-3 attempted to land on the moon on Wednesday, 23 August.

This footage, from a live feed, shows India's third moon rocket conducted a soft landing on the lunar south pole.

The rocket made history as the first lander to touch down on the south pole of the moon, and made India the fourth country in the world to achieve a soft landing on Earth's satellite.

The moon's south pole, which is covered in water-ice in some permanently shadowed areas, is of significant interest to scientists.

Water-ice could support human habitation in the future, according to researchers.

Though other countries such as the US and China have completed soft landings near the Moon's equator, none have successfully conducted missions to its south pole.

The Indian Space Research Organisation said teams would await the arrival of the mission’s Lander Module (LM) at its designated point around 5.44pm local time (1.14pm BST) to initiate the landing sequence.

Once this is initiated, the LM activated its engines for a powered descent.

Then the mission’s Vikram lander would hurtle towards the lunar surface at about 1.68km per second.

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