"Incredible Moment": Sundar Pichai Congratulates India On Moon Mission

Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has joined millions of across the world in congratulating India on becoming the first nation to land near the Moon's south pole. India also became the fourth nation to soft land a craft on the lunar surface.

"What an incredible moment!" Mr Pichai posted on X, formerly Twitter.

"Congratulations to ISRO for the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon this morning. Today, India became the first country to successfully achieve a soft landing on the southern polar region of the Moon," the Google chief executive said, referring to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Areas near the moon's South Pole is seeing a "gold rush" because of high chances of finding large amount of water there, first found by the Chandrayaan-2 mission.

The rover Pragyan rolled out a few hours after lander Vikram's touchdown on the Moon's surface.

Lander Vikram's touched down days after a Russian probe crashed in the same region and four years since the previous Chandrayaan-2 attempt failed at the last moment.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission has captivated public attention since launching nearly six weeks ago in front of thousands of cheering spectators.

Chandrayaan-3 took much longer to reach the Moon than the Apollo missions in the 1960s and 1970s, which arrived in a matter of days.

India used rockets much less powerful than the ones the US used back then, meaning the probe had to orbit the Earth several times to gain speed before embarking on its month-long journey.

The lander detached from its propulsion module last week and had been sending images of the Moon's surface since entering lunar orbit on August 5.

The solar-powered rover Pragyan will explore the lunar surface and transmit data to Earth over its two-week lifespan.