A view of the moon as viewed by the Chandrayaan-3 lander during Lunar Orbit Insertion on August 5, 2023 in this screengrab from a video released August 6, 2023. (Photo: REUTERS)

The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft had been in a race with Russia to be the first to land on the lunar south pole, a region whose shadowed craters are thought to contain water ice that could support a future moon settlement.

As news of the failure of Russia's Luna-25 mission broke on Sunday, ISRO said that Chandrayaan-3 was on course to land on Wednesday.

The mission - Chandrayaan means "moon vehicle" in Hindi and Sanskrit - is India's second attempt to land on the south pole of the moon. In 2019, ISRO's Chandrayaan-2 mission successfully deployed an orbiter but its lander crashed.

Rough terrain makes a south pole landing difficult, but making a first landing would be historic. The region's water ice could supply fuel, oxygen and drinking water for future missions.