India's Chandrayaan-3 becomes the first space mission to land near the south pole of the Moon
"India is now on the Moon," announces PM Narendra Modi immediately after the Vikram lander touches down on the lunar surface
Inside the lander is the six-wheeled Pragyaan rover, which, if all goes to plan, will roam the lunar surface gathering images and data
Scientists believe the Moon's craters that are permanently in shadow may hold frozen water
The attempt - India's third lunar mission - comes days after Russia's unmanned Luna-25 spacecraft span out of control and crashed into the Moon
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi watches on as a visualisation of the spacecraft shows it landing near the Moon's south pole.
Watch the moment India’s Chandrayaan-3 lands on the Moon
"It's so extraordinary, it's so amazing to see what a community has come together to achieve, it's a huge achievement," says Maggie Lieu, a research fellow at Nottingham University, who worked at the European Space Agency.
She tells the BBC the landing on this part of the Moon is "so difficult" and now "the hardest part is over".
"When it was going into fine braking I was kind of worried as that's where they failed previously," but now the landing has taken place, it's "really exciting".
"In a couple of hours' time hopefully they'll be putting the rover onto the lunar surface," she says.
Image source, IsroP Veeramuthuvel said the mission from launch to landing took place "flawlessly"
In the control room, the project director of the mission P Veeramuthuvel says the spacecraft's successful landing has brought him "immense satisfaction".
Speaking to loud applause, he thanks all the people who have worked to make India the first country to land near the lunar south pole.
Image source, IsroP Veeramuthuvel's address was punctuated with applause from smiling and cheering colleagues
Take a look at the scene as the lander touched down on the Moon - you can see the sheer relief and excitement from the control room - we'll spare you the pictures of us sweating in the newsroom!
Image source, Isro
Image source, Isro
Image source, Isro"The sky is not the limit," Modi continues.
The country will always remember us for this moment, he tells the control room, adding that the success of the mission should push Indians towards a brighter future.
This day shows how we can learn from our failures to eventually succeed, he adds, referencing earlier failed missions to land on the Moon.
He ends his address to an outpouring of applause from the jubilant control room.
Image source, Isro"India's successful Moon mission is not India's alone," says Modi speaking virtually, now in English.
Modi lauds India's "human-centric approach", saying "one Earth, one family, one future is resonating around the world".
He encourages other countries to launch their own missions, saying India's success is a success for all humanity.
"We can all aspire for the Moon and beyond."
"India is now on the Moon," beams Prime Minister Modi, addressing the Isro control room.
He is in South Africa right now, he says in Hindi, but his mind is with Chandrayaan-3 like everyone else in the country.
He congratulates the Isro control room and all other Indians for this momentous achievement.
Image source, Isro
Geeta Pandey
BBC News, Delhi
Wow, that was intense! So now what? Firstly, the lander will wait a few hours for the lunar dust to quite literally settle.
After that, panels on one of its sides will open and a ramp will be deployed so that Pragyaan, the Moon rover, can slide down to the surface.
It will then roam around the rocks and craters on the Moon gathering crucial data and images to be sent back to Earth for analysis.
The lander and the rover are carrying five scientific instruments which will help find out "the physical characteristics of the surface of the Moon, the atmosphere close to the surface and the tectonic activity to study what goes on below the surface".
The landing date has also been carefully selected to coincide with the start of a lunar day - which equals 28 Earth days - because the batteries of the lander and the rover will need sunlight to be able to charge and function.
Image source, IsroRaucous applause breaks out in the control room as India makes history.
Narendra Modi is on screen smiling and waving an Indian flag as the Chandrayaan-3 makes a successful landing.
Image source, Isro
Image source, ISROChandrayaan-3’s lander touches down on the lunar surface, making India the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the Moon’s south pole.
All previous missions to the Moon have touched down near the equator - but exploring the south pole is key to the hunt for water.
Scientists now hope to deploy a rover to send images and data back to Earth - stick with us for updates.
It's less than 60m above the surface - remember to breathe everyone!
We're in the final phase of the power descent, when Chandrayaan-3 will try to land vertically on the Moon.
More applause in the control room. It's tense!
The lander is less than 1km away! It's nearly there!
Image source, IsroVisualisation from Isro live feed of the spacecraft descending
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has joined the Isro team via a live stream from South Africa to watch the descent.
Modi is in Johannesburg for the Brics political summit alongside the leaders of Brazil, Russia, South Africa and China.
We are still in the first "rough-breaking" phase of the landing, according to the Isro team, and Chandrayaan-3 has descended around 750km since the start of this phase.
It is only around 10km above the Moon's surface.
The descent is entirely automated, with no intervention from the ground.
Image source, IsroChandrayaan-3 has begun its descent towards the Moon - this is what is called by some scientists the "15 minutes of terror".
These few minutes prior to its soft landing are the most crucial, as the lander attempts to make touchdown on an area that is "very uneven, full of craters and boulders".
The lander has begun to transition from a high-speed horizontal position to a vertical one now. It is this critical manoeuvre that had failed with Chandrayaan-2 in 2019. The lander lost control in the final minutes of the descent, resulting in a crash.
Chandrayaan-3 is relying completely on the logic programmed into its computers for the entire landing process, Isro says. Its mission control centre cannot send commands to the lander now as it descends.
“It has been designed in such a way that it should be able to handle multiple failures. If the algorithms work well we should be able to do a vertical landing,” Isro said earlier this month.
The spacecraft is now around halfway through its descent, as it moves closer to the Moon.
The beginning of Chandrayaan-3's descent has been described as "majestic" by the Isro space agency team.
Every parameter of the lander continues to be monitored by the Isro control room, as India hopes for a successful descent with bated breath.
The descent of Chandrayaan-3 has begun. It is moving along the intended trajectory toward the lunar south pole.
Applause breaks out in the control room.
The next few minutes will be crucial to the mission - stick with us for the latest updates.
It's been nearly six weeks since Chandrayaan-3 took off from a spaceport in India and began its journey to the Moon.
And now we are moments away from the final outcome of the mission.
Excitement inside the command room of the Indian Space Research Organisation in Bengaluru (Bangalore) city is at fever pitch.
Scientists are huddled in front of computer screens, mapping every movement of the lander as it begins its descent into the Moon's orbit in a few moments.
The mood is equally tense outside where reporters are glued to TV screens telecasting live updates of the mission.
The landing comes just days after Luna-25 - Russia’s first Moon mission in almost half a century - crashed after spinning out of control.
Let's take a look at the command room in the southern city of Bengaluru (Bangalore) as the landing attempt approaches - there are a lot of tense faces.
Image source, Isro
Image source, IsroThe live stream from the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is now up and running, with 3.67m people already watching on YouTube.