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India is hoping to become the first country to land a spacecraft near the south pole of the moon, days after the failure of a similar Russian mission.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission aims to hunt for water-based ice, which scientists say could support human habitation on the moon.

Dr Y. S. Rajan is from the Indian Space Research Organisation, which is behind the mission. He told Newsday: 鈥淢uch of the mission is risky鈥�the last few minutes is going to be really, really tough but they have taken a lot of care (and) learned from the earlier set-back in Chandrayaan-2.鈥�

He says India wants to get there first for 鈥渢hree reasons鈥�one is technological another is scientific鈥�third is geopolitical鈥�we want to stand proud in the community of nations鈥�unless you do things and show that you can do, you are not an equal partner.鈥�

(Picture: Shows people waving Indian flags as an Indian Space Research Organisation rocket carrying the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft lifts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, an island off the coast of southern Andhra Pradesh state on July 14, 2023. Credit: R.Satish Babu / AFP via Getty Images.)

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