India prepared for its second attempted moon landing on Wednesday, marking a historic moment for the world’s most populous country.

Chandrayaan-3, which means “mooncraft” in Sanskrit, is scheduled to put down its Vikram lander shortly after 6 pm India time near the little-explored lunar south pole in what would be a world first for any space program. This attempt comes after India failed in 2019.

Former Indian space chief K Sivan said the latest photos transmitted back by the lander gave every indication the final leg of the voyage would succeed.

He told AFP on Monday that “It is giving some encouragement that we will be able to achieve the landing mission without any problem."

“Chandrayaan-3 is going to go with more ruggedness,” Sivan said, adding that “We have confidence, and we expect that everything will go smoothly.”

The mission launched nearly six weeks ago in front of thousands of cheering spectators.

India's aerospace program 

It is worth mentioning that India's low-budget aerospace program has grown considerably in size and momentum since it first sent a probe to orbit the moon in 2008. 

On that note, the latest mission was worth $74.5 million, which is far lower than other countries. 

Experts say India can keep costs low by copying and adapting existing space technology, and thanks to an abundance of highly skilled engineers who earn a fraction of their foreign counterparts’ wages.

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On another note, India became the first Asian country to put a satellite into orbit around Mars in 2014 and is slated to launch a crewed mission into Earth’s orbit in the next few years, starting with uncrewed test flights in 2024.

The former ISRO chief, Sivan, said India’s efforts to explore the relatively unmapped lunar south pole would make a “very, very important” contribution to scientific knowledge.