Which spacecraft made the first soft landing on the Moon’s south polar region?

Chandrayaan-3 made the first soft landing near the Moon’s south polar region.

India’s Chandrayaan-3 landed on 23 August 2023, with its Vikram lander touching down at a high-latitude site in the lunar south-polar region. The mission also deployed the Pragyan rover to perform measurements close to the landing area.

The landing followed the unsuccessful landing attempt of Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram lander in 2019. Chandrayaan-3 included a lander, rover, and propulsion module, with redesigned systems intended to improve landing resilience and navigation.

The mission made India the first country to achieve a soft landing in the Moon’s south-polar region. Vikram is the lander’s name, not the name of the whole mission, while Chandrayaan-1 was India’s earlier lunar orbiter.