India launches moon mission

India successfully launched an unmanned spacecraft toward the far side of the moon on Monday, a week after aborting the mission due to a technical problem. The Chandrayaan-2, Sanskrit for “moon craft,” took off as scheduled at 2:43 p.m. local time from Sriharikota, India, and is scheduled to land on the lunar south pole in September. The spacecraft will send a rover to explore water deposits that India’s first moon mission identified while in orbit in 2008.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that the country’s existing knowledge of the moon “will be significantly enhanced.” The country plans to launch its first manned spaceflight by 2022.

The United States marked the 50th anniversary of the first manned mission to the moon on Saturday. NASA hosted a festival in Washington and aired video of astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s first walk on the lunar surface on television and the web.