NEW DELHI (AP) — A lunar rover slid down a ramp from the lander of India’s spacecraft within hours of its historic touch-down near the moon’s south pole, Indian space officials said Thursday, as the country celebrated its new scientific accomplishment.
“India took a walk on the moon,” the state-run Indian Space Research Organization said, adding that the Chandrayan-3 Rover would conduct experiments over 14 days, including an analysis of the mineral composition of the lunar surface.
Residents of the world’s most populous country had crowded around televisions in offices, shops, and restaurants on Wednesday and erupted into clapping, dancing, and exchanging of sweets when they saw the lander’s smooth touchdown. It landed on uncharted territory that scientists believe could hold vital reserves of frozen water.
“India Goes Where No Nation’s Gone Before,’’ read Thursday’s headline in The Times of India daily, while the Indian Express newspaper exclaimed, “The moon is Indian.”
Indian Space Research Organization Chairman S. Somnath said the lander had touched down close to the center of the 4.5-kilometer-wide (2.8-mile-wide) area that had been targeted for the landing. “It landed within 300 meters (985 feet) of that point,” the Press Trust of India cited him as saying.
The mission began more than a month ago at an estimated cost of $75 million. Somnath said that India would next attempt a manned lunar mission.