India's historic cut-price Moon mission set for touchdown

India readied Wednesday for its latest attempted Moon landing, a historic moment for the world's most populous nation as it rapidly closes in on milestones set by global space powers. Chandrayaan-3 is scheduled to touch down shortly after 6:00 pm India time near the little-explored lunar South Pole, in what would be a world first for any space programme.

A previous Indian effort failed in 2019, and the latest mission comes just days after Russia's first Moon mission in almost 50 years, destined for the same region, crashed on the lunar surface.