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Chandrayaan-3, the latest iteration of India’s ambitious mission to the moon, has successfully landed on the lunar surface — making history after its predecessor failed in 2019. The landing, which took place at the targeted time of 5:34am PT (6:04pm IST) on Wednesday over a month after the spacecraft’s launch, has made India the fourth nation globally to make a soft landing on the moon, after the former Soviet Union, the U.S. and China, and the first country to land on the lunar south pole, which remains an unexplored area that is anticipated to aid in the understanding of the...

BENGALURU, Aug 23 (Reuters) - An Indian spacecraft landed on the moon on Wednesday, the space agency said, in a mission seen as crucial to lunar exploration and India's standing as a space power, just days after a similar Russian lander crashed. For India, the successful landing marks its emergence as a space power as the government looks to spur investment in private space launches and related satellite-based businesses.

Russia has made a “massive strategic blunder” as Finland and Sweden look poised to join Nato as early as the summer, according to officials. Washington is banking on the move that will stretch Russia’s military and enlarge the western alliance from 30 to 32 members as a direct consequence of President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. US officials said Nato membership for both Nordic countries was “a topic of conversation and multiple sessions” during talks between the alliance’s foreign ministers last week attended by Sweden and Finland. “How can this be anything but a massive strategic blunder for Putin?,” one senior...