India’s space agency is set to launch an unmanned mission to the moon’s south pole

An Indian spacecraft is set to blaze its way to the far side of the moon in a follow-up mission to a failed effort nearly four years ago to land a rover softly on the lunar surface. Chandrayaan-3, the word for “moon craft” in Sanskrit, will take off Friday from a launch pad in southern India, along with an orbiter, a lander and a rover. The spacecraft will embark on a monthlong journey before landing on the moon’s surface later in August. A successful landing will make India the fourth country — after the United States, the Soviet Union, and China — to achieve the feat. India’s previous attempt to land a robotic spacecraft near the moon’s south pole ended in failure in 2019.