When the lunar lander Vikram touched down near the south pole of the Moon on August 23, 2023, it was a momentous day for the Indian Space Research Organization (IRSO). Not only was India now one of the few nations with a successful lunar mission — and the first to land a spacecraft in the challenging terrain surrounding the Moon’s south pole — but the mission also represented a daring comeback after a software glitch resulted in a crash landing during the country’s previous lunar miss...
