Google celebrates first landing on the moon's south pole

Kolkata: Famed search engine Google on Thursday came up with a doodle celebrating India's historic achievement of becoming the first country to touch down a spacecraft (Chandrayaan-3) in the south pole of the moon.

"Today’s Doodle celebrates the first ever landing on the moon’s south pole!... Congratulations to the Chandrayaan-3 space mission! We’re over the moon for you!" Google said in a statement.

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota Range, Andhra Pradesh, on July 14, successfully touched down near the lunar south pole region on August 23.

"Moon landings are no easy feat. Previously, only the United States, China, and the former Soviet Union have completed soft landings on the moon — but no country has made it to the southern pole region before now," the statement said.

The moon’s south pole has been an area of heightened interest for space explorers as they suspected the existence of ice deposits located inside permanently shadowed craters.

"Chandrayaan-3 has now confirmed this prediction to be true! This ice offers the potential of critical resources for future astronauts such as air, water, and even hydrogen rocket fuel," the search engine noted. (UNI)