Bengaluru, August 23 (PTI): India is on the verge of making history as the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is ready to land the lander module (LM) of the ambitious third lunar mission, Chandrayaan 3, on the moon’s surface on Wednesday evening.

After this achievement, India will become the fourth country to successfully land on the lunar surface and the first nation to reach the southern pole of Earth’s only natural satellite, which has remained unexplored so far.

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The LM consists of the lander (Vikram) and rover (Pragyan) and is scheduled to touch down near the south polar region in about four minutes after 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

ISRO shared images of the moon taken by cameras on the lander on Tuesday and stated, “The mission is progressing as per the scheduled time. System checks are being carried out regularly. Chandrayaan 3 is making steady progress. ‘Mission Operation Complex’ (MOX) is filled with energy and enthusiasm.”

If the Chandrayaan-3 mission succeeds in landing softly on the moon’s surface and deploying a robotic lunar rover in about four years, India will become the fourth country in the world, after the United States, China, and the former Soviet Union, to have achieved the feat of soft landing on the moon’s surface.

Chandrayaan 3 is the next phase of the Chandrayaan-2 mission, and its goal is to land safely and easily on the moon’s surface, explore the moon, and conduct scientific experiments.

Chandrayaan-2 had faced failure during its mission as its lander, Vikram, crashed on the moon’s surface on September 7, 2019, just minutes before landing, due to a failure in the breaking system of the lander. The first Chandrayaan mission took place in 2008.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission, costing INR 600 crores (approximately USD 80 million), was launched on July 14 via the launch vehicle Mark-3 (LV-M3) rocket and has completed a 41-day journey thus far.”