India is set to launch a lander and rover to explore the moon’s south pole

By AIJAZ RAHI and ASHOK SHARMA
Associated Press

SRIHARIKOTA, India (AP) — An Indian spacecraft is set to blaze its way to the far side of the moon in a follow-up mission to a failed effort nearly four years ago to land a rover softly on the lunar surface. Chandrayaan-3, the word for “moon craft” in Sanskrit, will take off Friday from a launch pad in southern India, along with an orbiter, a lander and a rover. The spacecraft will embark on a monthlong journey before landing on the moon’s surface later in August. A successful landing will make India the fourth country — after the United States, the Soviet Union, and China — to achieve the feat. India’s previous attempt to land a robotic spacecraft near the moon’s south pole ended in failure in 2019.