Roscosmos congratulates Indian space agency on successful landing on Moon's South Pole

MOSCOW. Aug 23 (Interfax) - Russia's state space corporation Roscosmos has congratulated the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on the successful soft landing of a spacecraft on the Moon's South Pole, highlighting the importance of lunar exploration for all of humankind.

"The Roscosmos state corporation congratulates its Indian partners on the successful landing of the Chandrayaan 3 spacecraft," it said.

Lunar exploration is important for all of humankind, and "it might become a platform for exploring deep space in the future," it said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Vikram lander with the Pragyan rover of India's Chandrayaan 3 automated interplanetary station successfully made a soft landing in the area of the lunar South Pole.

India was first in the world to accomplish a soft landing on the lunar South Pole.

Russia's Luna 25 interplanetary station was to land on the lunar South Pole on August 21. However, Roscosmos reported on August 20 that the station crashed into the Moon.

Roscosmos CEO Yury Borisov said on August 21 that the main cause of the Luna 25's crash was a malfunction during its engine's cutoff.