India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully landed on the lunar surface, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said.

According to an ISRO live broadcast, the spacecraft has successfully completed a soft landing on the Moon’s surface.

India's historic attempt began nearly six weeks ago, on July 14, when the country first launched its Chandrayaan-3 rocket.

Historic moment India succeed in dark side of the moon landing

India made history today as the world's most populous country became the first to land a vehicle on the moon's south pole - about which little is known.

Chandrayaan-3, which means "mooncraft" in Sanskrit, landed one minute earlier than expected, at 1.33pm BST (6.04pm Indian time).

The success was announced by a scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), who proclaimed: "India is on the moon".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who watched the landing from South Africa where he was attending a BRICS summit, hailed the event as a "new beginning" for his country.

Chandrayaan-3 could now be able to shed light on the lesser-known side of the moon where NASA and other space agencies believe to have detected frozen water.

If the spaceship, which was launched nearly six weeks ago from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, was able to confirm these reports, it would provide incredible insight into past lunar volcanoes and the origins of our own oceans.

By finding water ice India would confirm a new source of fuel, oxygen and drinking water.

The landing achieved by India was extremely difficult, as proven by the Russian lunar failure on the weekend, when Moscow's unmanned robot lander crashed into Earth's satellite.

Only the US, China and the Soviet Union have so far been able to land on the moon, with India failing a similar attempt in 2019. Then, the lander and rover on Chandrayaan-2 crashed near its proposed site.