Chandrayaan-3 is India's third lunar mission, part of the Chandrayaan programme developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The mission's spacecraft consists of Vikram, a lunar lander, and Pragyan, a lunar rover. This photograph shows the LVM3-M4 rocket carrying Chandrayaan-3 lifting off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on 14 July 2023. Vikram later made a successful soft landing near the lunar south pole in August 2023, making India the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, and the first country to land a lunar spacecraft near the south pole.

Photograph credit: ISRO, edited by UnpetitproleX