On July 22nd, 2019, India launched Chandrayaa-2, their second mission to the moon. It’s set to arrive in late August and will launch India into rare company as the fourth country to visit.
While the United States’s Apollo missions flew to the moon in a straight shot with large rockets, Chandrayaa-2 will orbit the earth in increasing orbits until the correct distance from Earth is reached.
The mission cost India 140 million and the hope is for their rover to land on the moon’s south pole, where it is believed frozen water could be in the shadowed craters.
India’s first moon mission, Chandrayaa-1, also searched for water but didn’t attempt a moon landing.
The United States also has a plan to return to the moon. The plan is to land astronauts on the moon by 2024.
