Chandrayaan-3 achieved the first soft landing near the Moon’s south polar region.
The Indian Space Research Organisation’s mission landed its Vikram lander on 23 August 2023. The landing site was at about 69.37 degrees south latitude, making Chandrayaan-3 the first successful mission to land in the Moon’s high southern latitudes.
The mission also deployed the Pragyan rover, which conducted short-range surface investigations. Chandrayaan-3 was designed as a follow-up to Chandrayaan-2, whose lander lost contact during its attempted landing in September 2019.
The phrase “south polar region” is more accurate than saying the spacecraft landed exactly at the lunar South Pole. The landing site was nearby but not at the pole itself. Luna 25 attempted a nearby high-latitude landing in 2023 but crashed before landing.