Excitement is rising in India at a much-anticipated moon landing, with prayers held for its success, schools marshalling students to watch a live telecast of the event and space enthusiasts organising parties to celebrate..
The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is scheduled to land on the lunar south pole at 12:34 GMT on Wednesday, days after the failure of a Russian vehicle trying to achieve the same feat.
Success for Chandrayaan-3 will make it the first to land on the lunar south pole, a region whose shadowed craters are thought to contain water ice that could support a future moon settlement.
India’s second attempt to land on the moon after a failure in 2019 is being seen as a display of the tenacity of its scientific institutions.
Authorities and educators also hope it will encourage scientific inquiry among millions of students in the world’s most populous country.
Students have sent scores of messages wishing ISRO luck for a successful landing, the agency said.