More than 140 missions launched to the moon. A small number of them had astronauts on board, but most of the missions were robotic orbiters, landers and rovers.

Chandrayaan-3, the hope of not only the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) but also millions of Indians, is just a day away from its historic lunar landing on August 23, 2023.

India's quest for space exploration is about to achieve a remarkable feat as Chandrayaan-3 is poised for a soft landing on the moon's surface on August 23, an event that will be witnessed live by the entire nation across multiple platforms.

While Chandrayaan-3 is poised for a soft landing on the moon's surface, Russia's Luna 25 crashed .

Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft which was launched to make soft-landing on the south pole of the moon has crashed on the lunar surface. The Russian Space Agency said that the crash occurred due to a deviation between actual and calculated parameters of the propulsion maneuver which led Luna-25 to an unintended orbit resulting in a collision with the lunar surface.

Luna 25 launched on 10 August 2023 and On 16 August at 08:57 UT it reached the Moon and fired its engines to enter lunar orbit. On August 19 at 11:10 UT it fired its engines to go into its pre-landing orbit, but at 11:57 UT communications were lost. It reportedly has crashed on the lunar surface.

Chandrayaan-3 and Luna-25 aren't the only lunar missions planned this decade. They are only the first among at least 10 other lunar missions planned between now and 2025, with the US, Israel, China and Japan — including a joint mission with India — all going to Moon.