India launched an uncrewed mission to the lunar surface, joining the U.S., China and others in a new moon race.
The Chandrayaan-3 blasted off at 2:35 p.m. local time Friday from India’s main spaceport on Sriharikota, an island off the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, as a crowd of visitors watched. It will spend about six weeks in space before attempting to touch down close to the lunar south pole, near where the nation’s previous moon mission ended in a crash in 2019.
If successful, the rover will conduct experiments on the chemical makeup of the moon’s surface and search for water. The rover will have a life span of one lunar day, which is equivalent to 14 days on Earth.
