Launch of Chandrayaan-3

Chandrayaan-3 was India's third lunar exploration mission, launched on 14 July 2023 on a heavy-lift rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. It followed Chandrayaan-2, whose lander crashed in 2019, and was designed to demonstrate a soft landing on the Moon. The lander, called Vikram, touched down on 23 August 2023 near the Moon's south polar region, making India the fourth country to land on the Moon and the first to do so close to the south pole. The small rover Pragyan was deployed to make measurements of the lunar surface, including its composition and temperature. The mission was a major success for the Indian Space Research Organisation and was celebrated across the country.

Open on the timeline